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1Installing the GNU C Library
2****************************
41aa20c2 3
6a3951a0 4Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
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5<https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/FAQ>. It answers common questions
6and describes problems you may experience with compilation and
7installation.
41aa20c2 8
00c1176b 9 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC
fe959e1e 10and GNU Make, and possibly others. *Note Tools for Compilation::,
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11below.
12
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13Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
14===========================================
00c1176b 15
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16The GNU C Library cannot be compiled in the source directory. You must
17build it in a separate build directory. For example, if you have
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18unpacked the GNU C Library sources in '/src/gnu/glibc-VERSION', create a
19directory '/src/gnu/glibc-build' to put the object files in. This
20allows removing the whole build directory in case an error occurs, which
21is the safest way to get a fresh start and should always be done.
00c1176b 22
a8db092e 23 From your object directory, run the shell script 'configure' located
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24at the top level of the source tree. In the scenario above, you'd type
25
f1e86fca 26 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure ARGS...
00c1176b 27
3858bf28 28 Please note that even though you're building in a separate build
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29directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
30directories in the source directory.
f05f5ca3 31
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32'configure' takes many options, but the only one that is usually
33mandatory is '--prefix'. This option tells 'configure' where you want
34the GNU C Library installed. This defaults to '/usr/local', but the
1f77f049 35normal setting to install as the standard system library is
a8db092e 36'--prefix=/usr' for GNU/Linux systems and '--prefix=' (an empty prefix)
1f77f049 37for GNU/Hurd systems.
00c1176b 38
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39 It may also be useful to pass 'CC=COMPILER' and 'CFLAGS=FLAGS'
40arguments to 'configure'. 'CC' selects the C compiler that will be
41used, and 'CFLAGS' sets optimization options for the compiler. Any
42compiler options required for all compilations, such as options
43selecting an ABI or a processor for which to generate code, should be
44included in 'CC'. Options that may be overridden by the GNU C Library
45build system for particular files, such as for optimization and
46debugging, should go in 'CFLAGS'. The default value of 'CFLAGS' is '-g
47-O2', and the GNU C Library cannot be compiled without optimization, so
48if 'CFLAGS' is specified it must enable optimization. For example:
49
50 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure CC="gcc -m32" CFLAGS="-O3"
00c1176b 51
bd952512 52 The following list describes all of the available options for
a8db092e 53'configure':
00c1176b 54
a8db092e 55'--prefix=DIRECTORY'
00c1176b 56 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
a8db092e 57 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to install in '/usr/local'.
00c1176b 58
a8db092e 59'--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
00c1176b 60 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
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61 subdirectories of 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to the '--prefix'
62 directory if that option is specified, or '/usr/local' otherwise.
00c1176b 63
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64'--with-headers=DIRECTORY'
65 Look for kernel header files in DIRECTORY, not '/usr/include'. The
66 GNU C Library needs information from the kernel's header files
1f77f049 67 describing the interface to the kernel. The GNU C Library will
a8db092e 68 normally look in '/usr/include' for them, but if you specify this
1f77f049 69 option, it will look in DIRECTORY instead.
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70
71 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
a8db092e 72 '/usr/include' come from an older version of the GNU C Library.
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73 Conflicts can occasionally happen in this case. You can also use
74 this option if you want to compile the GNU C Library with a newer
a8db092e 75 set of kernel headers than the ones found in '/usr/include'.
41aa20c2 76
a8db092e 77'--enable-kernel=VERSION'
90d1d40b 78 This option is currently only useful on GNU/Linux systems. The
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79 VERSION parameter should have the form X.Y.Z and describes the
80 smallest version of the Linux kernel the generated library is
81 expected to support. The higher the VERSION number is, the less
82 compatibility code is added, and the faster the code gets.
83
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84'--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
85 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in 'DIRECTORY', not the
6736e93b 86 ones the C compiler would default to. You can use this option if
41aa20c2 87 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
a8db092e 88 constructs in the GNU C Library. In that case, 'configure' will
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89 detect the problem and suppress these constructs, so that the
90 library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
91 example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
41aa20c2 92
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93'--with-nonshared-cflags=CFLAGS'
94 Use additional compiler flags CFLAGS to build the parts of the
95 library which are always statically linked into applications and
96 libraries even with shared linking (that is, the object files
97 contained in 'lib*_nonshared.a' libraries). The build process will
98 automatically use the appropriate flags, but this option can be
99 used to set additional flags required for building applications and
100 libraries, to match local policy. For example, if such a policy
101 requires that all code linked into applications must be built with
102 source fortification,
103 '--with-nonshared-cflags=-Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' will make sure
104 that the objects in 'libc_nonshared.a' are compiled with this flag
105 (although this will not affect the generated code in this
106 particular case and potentially change debugging information and
107 metadata only).
108
a8db092e 109'--disable-shared'
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110 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
111 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
112 (currently) the GNU linker.
41aa20c2 113
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114'--enable-static-pie'
115 Enable static position independent executable (static PIE) support.
116 Static PIE is similar to static executable, but can be loaded at
117 any address without help from a dynamic linker. All static
118 programs as well as static tests are built as static PIE, except
119 for those marked with no-pie. The resulting glibc can be used with
120 the GCC option, -static-pie, which is available with GCC 8 or
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121 above, to create static PIE. This option also implies that glibc
122 programs and tests are created as dynamic position independent
123 executables (PIE) by default.
9d7a3741 124
e6c69509 125'--enable-cet'
9e38f455 126'--enable-cet=permissive'
e6c69509 127 Enable Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) support.
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128 When the GNU C Library is built with '--enable-cet' or
129 '--enable-cet=permissive', the resulting library is protected with
130 indirect branch tracking (IBT) and shadow stack (SHSTK). When CET
131 is enabled, the GNU C Library is compatible with all existing
132 executables and shared libraries. This feature is currently
133 supported on i386, x86_64 and x32 with GCC 8 and binutils 2.29 or
134 later. Note that when CET is enabled, the GNU C Library requires
135 CPUs capable of multi-byte NOPs, like x86-64 processors as well as
136 Intel Pentium Pro or newer. With '--enable-cet', it is an error to
137 dlopen a non CET enabled shared library in CET enabled application.
138 With '--enable-cet=permissive', CET is disabled when dlopening a
139 non CET enabled shared library in CET enabled application.
e6c69509 140
e84bd851 141 NOTE: '--enable-cet' has been tested for i686, x86_64 and x32 on
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142 non-CET processors. '--enable-cet' has been tested for i686,
143 x86_64 and x32 on CET processors.
e84bd851 144
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145'--enable-memory-tagging'
146 Enable memory tagging support if the architecture supports it.
147 When the GNU C Library is built with this option then the resulting
148 library will be able to control the use of tagged memory when
149 hardware support is present by use of the tunable
150 'glibc.mem.tagging'. This includes the generation of tagged memory
151 when using the 'malloc' APIs.
152
153 At present only AArch64 platforms with MTE provide this
154 functionality, although the library will still operate (without
155 memory tagging) on older versions of the architecture.
156
157 The default is to disable support for memory tagging.
158
a8db092e 159'--disable-profile'
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160 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
161 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
41aa20c2 162
a8db092e 163'--enable-static-nss'
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164 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
165 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
166 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
167 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
168
a8db092e 169'--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
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170 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
171 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
172 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
173
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174'--disable-timezone-tools'
175 By default, timezone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
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176 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
177 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
178 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
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179
180 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
181 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
182 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
183 for more details.
184
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185'--enable-stack-protector'
186'--enable-stack-protector=strong'
187'--enable-stack-protector=all'
188 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
189 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
190 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
191 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
192 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
193 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
194 protection.
195
2d6ab5df 196'--enable-bind-now'
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197 Disable lazy binding for installed shared objects and programs.
198 This provides additional security hardening because it enables full
199 RELRO and a read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of
200 slightly increased program load times.
2d6ab5df 201
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202'--enable-pt_chown'
203 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
204 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
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205 up pseudo-terminal ownership on GNU/Hurd. It is not required on
206 GNU/Linux, and the GNU C Library will not use the installed
207 'pt_chown' program when configured with '--enable-pt_chown'.
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208
209'--disable-werror'
210 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
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211 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
212 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
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213 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
214 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
215
21933112 216'--disable-mathvec'
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217 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
218 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
21933112 219
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220'--enable-tunables'
221 Tunables support allows additional library parameters to be
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222 customized at runtime. This feature is enabled by default. This
223 option can take the following values:
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224
225 'yes'
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226 This is the default if no option is passed to configure. This
227 enables tunables and selects the default frontend (currently
228 'valstring').
229
230 'no'
231 This option disables tunables.
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232
233 'valstring'
234 This enables tunables and selects the 'valstring' frontend for
235 tunables. This frontend allows users to specify tunables as a
236 colon-separated list in a single environment variable
237 'GLIBC_TUNABLES'.
67e58f39 238
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239'--disable-crypt'
240 Do not install the passphrase-hashing library 'libcrypt' or the
241 header file 'crypt.h'. 'unistd.h' will still declare the function
242 'crypt'. Using this option does not change the set of programs
243 that may need to be linked with '-lcrypt'; it only means that the
244 GNU C Library will not provide that library.
245
246 This option is for hackers and distributions experimenting with
247 independently-maintained implementations of libcrypt. It may
248 become the default in a future release.
249
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250'--disable-experimental-malloc'
251 By default, a per-thread cache is enabled in 'malloc'. While this
252 cache can be disabled on a per-application basis using tunables
253 (set glibc.malloc.tcache_count to zero), this option can be used to
254 remove it from the build completely.
255
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256'--disable-scv'
257 Disable using 'scv' instruction for syscalls. All syscalls will
258 use 'sc' instead, even if the kernel supports 'scv'. PowerPC only.
259
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260'--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
261'--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
262 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
263 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
264 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
265 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
266 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
267 the compiler and/or binutils.
268
269 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
270 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
271 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
272 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
273 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
274 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
275 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
db9881ec 276 'CC'.
1792d4db 277
a8db092e 278 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
41aa20c2 279
a8db092e 280'--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
8b748aed 281 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
a8db092e 282 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
8b748aed 283 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
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284 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
285 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
8b748aed 286
a8db092e 287'--with-bugurl=URL'
8b748aed 288 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
a8db092e 289 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
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290 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
291 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
292
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293 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
294produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
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295but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
296Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
41aa20c2 297
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298 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
299configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
300take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
301machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
00c1176b 302
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303 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
304an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
305'make' version, though.
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306
307 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
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308facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
309not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
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310problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
311on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
a8db092e 312being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
1f77f049 313Library as an unprivileged user.
41aa20c2 314
8d4b5a8a 315 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
6736e93b 316The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
a8db092e 317system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
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318files must all contain correct and sensible content.
319
a8db092e 320 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
d6fe5e58 321problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
a8db092e 322You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
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323make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
324failure occurs.
325
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326 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
327'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
328distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
329files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
330'make info'.
1792d4db 331
c0389ee4 332 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
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333which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
334file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
335build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
336is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
337makefiles.
c0389ee4 338
1f77f049 339 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
a8db092e 340setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
c0389ee4 341cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
a8db092e 342important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
db9881ec 343this: 'configure TARGET CC=TARGET-gcc'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
6736e93b 344to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
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345library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
346if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
347target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
348may be tested using 'make check
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349test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
350is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
351HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
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352binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
353visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
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354The 'cross-test-ssh.sh' script requires 'flock' from 'util-linux' to
355work when GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING environment variable is set.
356
357 It is also possible to execute tests, which require setting the date
358on the target machine. Following use cases are supported:
359 * 'GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING' is set in the environment in which
360 eligible tests are executed and have the privilege to run
361 'clock_settime'. In this case, nothing prevents those tests from
362 running in parallel, so the caller shall assure that those tests
363 are serialized or provide a proper wrapper script for them.
364
365 * The 'cross-test-ssh.sh' script is used and one passes the
366 '--allow-time-setting' flag. In this case, both sets
367 'GLIBC_TEST_ALLOW_TIME_SETTING' and serialization of test execution
368 are assured automatically.
c0389ee4 369
a8db092e 370 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
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371to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
372This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
8540f6d2 373working directory and the standard input, output and error file
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374descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
375environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
8540f6d2 376program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
a8db092e 377assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
8540f6d2 378before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
a8db092e 379the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
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380precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
381program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
382directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
383the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
384semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
385rather than the ambient set.
0eb69512 386
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387 For AArch64 with SVE, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper'
388may be set to "SRCDIR/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/aarch64/vltest.py
389VECTOR-LENGTH" to change Vector Length.
390
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391Installing the C Library
392========================
41aa20c2 393
80ed68b7 394To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
a8db092e 395manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
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396before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
397first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
398library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
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399first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
400when the library changes out from underneath.
1792d4db 401
a8db092e 402 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
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403installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
404headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
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405generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
406do things in the following order.
c0389ee4 407
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408 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
409check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
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410install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
411directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
412files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
413library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
a8db092e 414library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
02c4bbad 415directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
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416headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
417headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
1f77f049 418installing the library.
c0389ee4 419
1f77f049 420 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
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421configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
422on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
1f77f049 423prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
a8db092e 424setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
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425directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
426with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
427not supported.
1792d4db 428
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429 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
430may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
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431dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
432well.
1792d4db 433
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434 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
435'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
436program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
437a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
438using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
439'/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
41aa20c2 440
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441 After installation you should configure the timezone and install
442locales for your system. The time zone configuration ensures that your
443system time matches the time for your current timezone. The locales
444ensure that the display of information on your system matches the
445expectations of your language and geographic region.
446
447 The GNU C Library is able to use two kinds of localization
448information sources, the first is a locale database named
449'locale-archive' which is generally installed as
450'/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive'. The locale archive has the benefit of
451taking up less space and being very fast to load, but only if you plan
452to install sixty or more locales. If you plan to install one or two
453locales you can instead install individual locales into their self-named
454directories e.g. '/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8'. For example to install
455the German locale using the character set for UTF-8 with name 'de_DE'
456into the locale archive issue the command 'localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8
457de_DE', and to install just the one locale issue the command 'localedef
458--no-archive -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
a8db092e 459are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
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460directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales' to install all
461locales into the locale archive or 'make
462localedata/install-locale-files' to install all locales as files in the
463default configured locale installation directory (derived from
464'--prefix' or '--localedir'). To install into an alternative system
465root use 'DESTDIR' e.g. 'make localedata/install-locale-files
466DESTDIR=/opt/glibc', but note that this does not change the configured
467prefix.
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468
469 To configure the locally used timezone, set the 'TZ' environment
470variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
471As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
472'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
473are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
474which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
475Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
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476/etc/localtime'.
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478Recommended Tools for Compilation
479=================================
41aa20c2 480
80ed68b7 481We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
1f77f049 482build the GNU C Library:
41aa20c2 483
f2873d2d 484 * GNU 'make' 4.0 or newer
41aa20c2 485
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486 As of relase time, GNU 'make' 4.3 is the newest verified to work to
487 build the GNU C Library.
f650932b 488
4dcbbc3b 489 * GCC 6.2 or newer
0e7727f7 490
4dcbbc3b 491 GCC 6.2 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
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492 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
493 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
06eae99a 494 better code. As of release time, GCC 11.2 is the newest compiler
4863355a 495 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
91ea72b7 496
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497 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), a GCC version with
498 support for '-mno-gnu-attribute', '-mabi=ieeelongdouble', and
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499 '-mabi=ibmlondouble' is required. Likewise, the compiler must also
500 support passing '-mlong-double-128' with the preceding options. As
501 of release, this implies GCC 7.4 and newer (excepting GCC 7.5.0,
502 see GCC PR94200). These additional features are required for
503 building the GNU C Library with support for IEEE long double.
50545f5a 504
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505 For ARC architecture builds, GCC 8.3 or higher is needed.
506
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507 For s390x architecture builds, GCC 7.1 or higher is needed (See gcc
508 Bug 98269).
509
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510 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
511 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
512 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
513 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
514 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
515 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
516 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
517 'gcc/config.gcc'.
518
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519 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
520 the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 521
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522 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
523 platforms.
5713a71e 524
073e8fa7 525 * GNU 'binutils' 2.25 or later
41aa20c2 526
a8db092e 527 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
7a49a7d5 528 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
ad477489 529 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.35.1 is the newest
04cb913d 530 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 531
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532 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), 'objcopy' is
533 required to support '--update-section'. This option requires
534 binutils 2.26 or newer.
535
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536 ARC architecture needs 'binutils' 2.32 or higher for TLS related
537 fixes.
538
a8db092e 539 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
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540
541 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
a8db092e 542 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
41aa20c2 543 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
1792d4db 544 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
ad477489 545 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 6.7 is the newest
04cb913d 546 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 547
a8db092e 548 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
00c1176b 549
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550 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
551 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
2c8f75f7 552 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
ad477489 553 version 5.1 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
2c8f75f7 554 Library.
41aa20c2 555
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556 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
557
558 'bison' is used to generate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
ad477489 559 subdirectory. As of release time, 'bison' version 3.7.4 is the
93493119 560 newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
1faaf703 561
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562 * Perl 5
563
3c1622eb 564 Perl is not required, but if present it is used in some tests and
053c52b1 565 the 'mtrace' program, to build the GNU C Library manual. As of
06eae99a 566 release time 'perl' version 5.32.1 is the newest verified to work
053c52b1 567 to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 568
a8db092e 569 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
c0389ee4 570
a8db092e 571 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
2c8f75f7 572 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
ad477489 573 4.8 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
c0389ee4 574
c6982f7e 575 * Python 3.4 or later
3c1622eb 576
c6982f7e 577 Python is required to build the GNU C Library. As of release time,
06eae99a 578 Python 3.9.6 is the newest verified to work for building and
330c9d0d 579 testing the GNU C Library.
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580
581 * PExpect 4.0
582
583 The pretty printer tests drive GDB through test programs and
584 compare its output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture
585 the output of GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version
ad477489 586 in your system. As of release time PExpect 4.8 is the newest
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587 verified to work to test the pretty printers.
588
589 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7/3.4 or later
590
591 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
592 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
593 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
594 system's Python and GDB's have the same version. As of release
06eae99a 595 time GNU 'debugger' 10.2 is the newest verified to work to test the
330c9d0d 596 pretty printers.
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597
598 Unless Python, PExpect and GDB with Python support are present, the
599 printer tests will report themselves as 'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that
600 some of the printer tests require the GNU C Library to be compiled
601 with debugging symbols.
602
a8db092e 603If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
0cc70fcf 604
a8db092e 605 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.69 (exactly)
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606
607and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
608
a8db092e 609 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
41aa20c2 610
ad477489 611 As of release time, GNU 'gettext' version 0.21 is the newest
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612 version verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
613
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614You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
615patches, although we try to avoid this.
616
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617Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
618=====================================
80ed68b7 619
a7a93d50 620If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
5b4ecd3f 621to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
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622reference. (For the ia64 architecture, you need version 3.2.18 or newer
623because this is the first version with support for the 'accept4' system
624call.) These headers must be installed using 'make headers_install';
625the headers present in the kernel source directory are not suitable for
626direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to use that kernel,
627just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library can access them,
628referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way to do this is to
629unpack it in a directory such as '/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that
630directory, run 'make headers_install
1f77f049 631INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
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632Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
633the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
1f77f049 634cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
a8db092e 635'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
1f77f049 636ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
a8db092e 637'x86' or 'powerpc'.)
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638
639 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
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640directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
641replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
642'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
643'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
644Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
645provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
646by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
647are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
648directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
649not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
650kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
651using '--with-headers'.
1f77f049 652
a7a93d50 653 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
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654components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
655'/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
656Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
657to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
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659Reporting Bugs
660==============
41aa20c2 661
1f77f049 662There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
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663errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
664fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
665remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
666
bd952512 667 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
a8db092e 668reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
8b748aed 669a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
a306c790 670system has a WWW interface at <https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
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671WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
672report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
6736e93b 673
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674 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
675the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
676good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
677some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
678libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
679is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
680Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
681twice.
1792d4db 682
1f77f049 683 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
1792d4db 684not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
c0389ee4 685Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
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686
687 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
688smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
689library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
690call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
691
692 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
5a82c748 693Do this at <https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
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694
695 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
696doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
697function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
698or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
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699errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
700database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
701include the section names for easier identification.