]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/glibc.git/blame - INSTALL
Put the correct Unicode version number 11.0.0 into the generated files
[thirdparty/glibc.git] / INSTALL
CommitLineData
c9dc3f62
RM
1Installing the GNU C Library
2****************************
41aa20c2 3
6a3951a0 4Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
7b0fb870
SP
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::,
00c1176b
UD
11below.
12
1f77f049
JM
13Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
14===========================================
00c1176b 15
1f77f049
JM
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
a8db092e
CD
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
00c1176b
UD
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
e6bdb741
AJ
29directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
30directories in the source directory.
f05f5ca3 31
a8db092e
CD
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
db9881ec
JM
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
a8db092e
CD
61 subdirectories of 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to the '--prefix'
62 directory if that option is specified, or '/usr/local' otherwise.
00c1176b 63
a8db092e
CD
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.
00c1176b
UD
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.
1f77f049
JM
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
d2830ba4
UD
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
a8db092e
CD
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
bd952512
UD
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
a8db092e 93'--disable-shared'
bd952512
UD
94 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
95 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
96 (currently) the GNU linker.
41aa20c2 97
9d7a3741
L
98'--enable-static-pie'
99 Enable static position independent executable (static PIE) support.
100 Static PIE is similar to static executable, but can be loaded at
101 any address without help from a dynamic linker. All static
102 programs as well as static tests are built as static PIE, except
103 for those marked with no-pie. The resulting glibc can be used with
104 the GCC option, -static-pie, which is available with GCC 8 or
126adc89
L
105 above, to create static PIE. This option also implies that glibc
106 programs and tests are created as dynamic position independent
107 executables (PIE) by default.
9d7a3741 108
a8db092e 109'--disable-profile'
00c1176b
UD
110 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
111 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
41aa20c2 112
a8db092e 113'--enable-static-nss'
00c1176b
UD
114 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
115 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
116 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
117 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
118
a8db092e 119'--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
e98cdb38
CD
120 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
121 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
122 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
123
1cba4036
MF
124'--disable-timezone-tools'
125 By default, timezone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
44f826e3
MF
126 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
127 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
128 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
1cba4036
MF
129
130 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
131 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
132 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
133 for more details.
134
03baef1c
NA
135'--enable-stack-protector'
136'--enable-stack-protector=strong'
137'--enable-stack-protector=all'
138 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
139 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
140 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
141 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
142 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
143 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
144 protection.
145
2d6ab5df
FW
146'--enable-bind-now'
147 Disable lazy binding for installed shared objects. This provides
148 additional security hardening because it enables full RELRO and a
149 read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of slightly
150 increased program load times.
151
a8db092e
CD
152'--enable-pt_chown'
153 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
154 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
155 up pseudo-terminal ownership. It is not built by default because
156 systems using the Linux kernel are commonly built with the 'devpts'
157 filesystem enabled and mounted at '/dev/pts', which manages
158 pseudo-terminal ownership automatically. By using
159 '--enable-pt_chown', you may build 'pt_chown' and install it setuid
160 and owned by 'root'. The use of 'pt_chown' introduces additional
161 security risks to the system and you should enable it only if you
162 understand and accept those risks.
163
164'--disable-werror'
165 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
a4ecc9eb
JM
166 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
167 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
a8db092e
CD
168 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
169 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
170
21933112 171'--disable-mathvec'
b55a155f
RJ
172 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
173 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
21933112 174
67e58f39
SP
175'--enable-tunables'
176 Tunables support allows additional library parameters to be
2c0b90ab
SP
177 customized at runtime. This feature is enabled by default. This
178 option can take the following values:
6765d5d3
SP
179
180 'yes'
2c0b90ab
SP
181 This is the default if no option is passed to configure. This
182 enables tunables and selects the default frontend (currently
183 'valstring').
184
185 'no'
186 This option disables tunables.
6765d5d3
SP
187
188 'valstring'
189 This enables tunables and selects the 'valstring' frontend for
190 tunables. This frontend allows users to specify tunables as a
191 colon-separated list in a single environment variable
192 'GLIBC_TUNABLES'.
67e58f39 193
a640393a
JM
194'--enable-obsolete-nsl'
195 By default, libnsl is only built as shared library for backward
196 compatibility and the NSS modules libnss_compat, libnss_nis and
197 libnss_nisplus are not built at all. Use this option to enable
198 libnsl with all depending NSS modules and header files.
199
e69d994a
ZW
200'--disable-crypt'
201 Do not install the passphrase-hashing library 'libcrypt' or the
202 header file 'crypt.h'. 'unistd.h' will still declare the function
203 'crypt'. Using this option does not change the set of programs
204 that may need to be linked with '-lcrypt'; it only means that the
205 GNU C Library will not provide that library.
206
207 This option is for hackers and distributions experimenting with
208 independently-maintained implementations of libcrypt. It may
209 become the default in a future release.
210
d5c3fafc
DD
211'--disable-experimental-malloc'
212 By default, a per-thread cache is enabled in 'malloc'. While this
213 cache can be disabled on a per-application basis using tunables
214 (set glibc.malloc.tcache_count to zero), this option can be used to
215 remove it from the build completely.
216
a8db092e
CD
217'--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
218'--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
219 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
220 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
221 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
222 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
223 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
224 the compiler and/or binutils.
225
226 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
227 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
228 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
229 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
230 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
231 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
232 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
db9881ec 233 'CC'.
1792d4db 234
a8db092e 235 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
41aa20c2 236
a8db092e 237'--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
8b748aed 238 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
a8db092e 239 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
8b748aed 240 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
a8db092e
CD
241 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
242 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
8b748aed 243
a8db092e 244'--with-bugurl=URL'
8b748aed 245 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
a8db092e 246 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
8b748aed
JM
247 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
248 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
249
a8db092e
CD
250 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
251produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
b55a155f
RJ
252but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
253Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
41aa20c2 254
3858bf28
RM
255 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
256configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
257take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
258machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
00c1176b 259
a8db092e
CD
260 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
261an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
262'make' version, though.
bd952512
UD
263
264 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
a8db092e
CD
265facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
266not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
bd952512
UD
267problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
268on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
a8db092e 269being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
1f77f049 270Library as an unprivileged user.
41aa20c2 271
8d4b5a8a 272 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
6736e93b 273The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
a8db092e 274system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
8d4b5a8a
UD
275files must all contain correct and sensible content.
276
a8db092e 277 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
d6fe5e58 278problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
a8db092e 279You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
d6fe5e58
JM
280make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
281failure occurs.
282
23b5cae1
MG
283 The GNU C Library pretty printers come with their own set of scripts
284for testing, which run together with the rest of the testsuite through
285'make check'. These scripts require the following tools to run
286successfully:
287
288 * Python 2.7.6/3.4.3 or later
289
290 Python is required for running the printers' test scripts.
291
292 * PExpect 4.0
293
294 The printer tests drive GDB through test programs and compare its
295 output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture the output of
296 GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version in your
297 system.
298
299 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7.6/3.4.3 or later
300
301 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
302 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
303 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
304 system's Python and GDB's have the same version.
305
306If these tools are absent, the printer tests will report themselves as
307'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that some of the printer tests require the GNU C
308Library to be compiled with debugging symbols.
309
a8db092e
CD
310 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
311'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
312distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
313files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
314'make info'.
1792d4db 315
c0389ee4 316 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
a8db092e
CD
317which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
318file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
319build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
320is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
321makefiles.
c0389ee4 322
1f77f049 323 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
a8db092e 324setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
c0389ee4 325cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
a8db092e 326important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
db9881ec 327this: 'configure TARGET CC=TARGET-gcc'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
6736e93b 328to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
a8db092e
CD
329library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
330if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
331target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
332may be tested using 'make check
df381762
JM
333test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
334is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
335HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
a8db092e
CD
336binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
337visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
c0389ee4 338
a8db092e 339 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
0eb69512
JM
340to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
341This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
8540f6d2 342working directory and the standard input, output and error file
a8db092e
CD
343descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
344environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
8540f6d2 345program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
a8db092e 346assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
8540f6d2 347before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
a8db092e 348the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
4acc27ed
RM
349precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
350program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
351directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
352the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
353semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
354rather than the ambient set.
0eb69512 355
c9dc3f62
RM
356Installing the C Library
357========================
41aa20c2 358
80ed68b7 359To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
a8db092e 360manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
686554bf
JM
361before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
362first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
363library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
a8db092e
CD
364first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
365when the library changes out from underneath.
1792d4db 366
a8db092e 367 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
1f77f049
JM
368installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
369headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
a8db092e
CD
370generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
371do things in the following order.
c0389ee4 372
a8db092e
CD
373 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
374check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
c0389ee4
AJ
375install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
376directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
377files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
378library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
a8db092e 379library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
02c4bbad 380directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
a8db092e
CD
381headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
382headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
1f77f049 383installing the library.
c0389ee4 384
1f77f049 385 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
a82a3db9
MS
386configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
387on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
1f77f049 388prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
a8db092e 389setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
a82a3db9
MS
390directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
391with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
392not supported.
1792d4db 393
a8db092e
CD
394 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
395may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
1f77f049
JM
396dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
397well.
1792d4db 398
a8db092e
CD
399 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
400'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
401program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
402a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
403using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
404'/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
41aa20c2 405
bd952512 406 After installation you might want to configure the timezone and
1f77f049 407locale installation of your system. The GNU C Library comes with a
a8db092e
CD
408locale database which gets configured with 'localedef'. For example, to
409set up a German locale with name 'de_DE', simply issue the command
410'localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
411are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
412directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales'.
413
414 To configure the locally used timezone, set the 'TZ' environment
415variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
416As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
417'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
418are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
419which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
420Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
bd952512
UD
421/etc/localtime'.
422
c9dc3f62
RM
423Recommended Tools for Compilation
424=================================
41aa20c2 425
80ed68b7 426We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
1f77f049 427build the GNU C Library:
41aa20c2 428
f2873d2d 429 * GNU 'make' 4.0 or newer
41aa20c2 430
4add8674 431 * GCC 4.9 or newer
0e7727f7 432
4add8674 433 GCC 4.9 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
4863355a
JM
434 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
435 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
d9f442ce 436 better code. As of release time, GCC 7.3 is the newest compiler
4863355a 437 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
91ea72b7 438
4efe3ce4
GG
439 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), GCC 6.2 or higher
440 is required. This compiler version is the first to provide the
441 features required for building the GNU C Library with support for
442 '_Float128'.
443
022dfdce
SL
444 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
445 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
446 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
447 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
448 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
449 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
450 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
451 'gcc/config.gcc'.
452
1f77f049
JM
453 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
454 the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 455
90d1d40b
RM
456 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
457 platforms.
5713a71e 458
073e8fa7 459 * GNU 'binutils' 2.25 or later
41aa20c2 460
a8db092e 461 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
7a49a7d5 462 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
93493119 463 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.29.1 is the newest
04cb913d 464 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 465
a8db092e 466 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
41aa20c2
UD
467
468 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
a8db092e 469 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
41aa20c2 470 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
1792d4db 471 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
93493119 472 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 6.5 is the newest
04cb913d 473 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 474
a8db092e 475 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
00c1176b 476
a8db092e
CD
477 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
478 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
2c8f75f7 479 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
93493119 480 version 4.2.0 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
2c8f75f7 481 Library.
41aa20c2 482
1faaf703
JB
483 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
484
485 'bison' is used to generate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
93493119
DL
486 subdirectory. As of release time, 'bison' version 3.0.4 is the
487 newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
1faaf703 488
00c1176b
UD
489 * Perl 5
490
491 Perl is not required, but it is used if present to test the
492 installation. We may decide to use it elsewhere in the future.
41aa20c2 493
a8db092e 494 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
c0389ee4 495
a8db092e 496 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
2c8f75f7 497 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
93493119 498 4.4 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
c0389ee4 499
a8db092e 500If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
0cc70fcf 501
a8db092e 502 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.69 (exactly)
41aa20c2
UD
503
504and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
505
a8db092e 506 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
41aa20c2
UD
507
508You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
509patches, although we try to avoid this.
510
c9dc3f62
RM
511Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
512=====================================
80ed68b7 513
a7a93d50 514If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
5b4ecd3f 515to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
e9203023
FW
516reference. (For the ia64 architecture, you need version 3.2.18 or newer
517because this is the first version with support for the 'accept4' system
518call.) These headers must be installed using 'make headers_install';
519the headers present in the kernel source directory are not suitable for
520direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to use that kernel,
521just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library can access them,
522referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way to do this is to
523unpack it in a directory such as '/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that
524directory, run 'make headers_install
1f77f049 525INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
a8db092e
CD
526Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
527the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
1f77f049 528cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
a8db092e 529'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
1f77f049 530ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
a8db092e 531'x86' or 'powerpc'.)
1f77f049
JM
532
533 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
a8db092e
CD
534directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
535replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
536'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
537'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
538Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
539provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
540by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
541are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
542directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
543not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
544kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
545using '--with-headers'.
1f77f049 546
a7a93d50 547 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
a8db092e
CD
548components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
549'/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
550Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
551to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
1792d4db 552
c9dc3f62
RM
553Reporting Bugs
554==============
41aa20c2 555
1f77f049 556There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
41aa20c2
UD
557errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
558fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
559remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
560
bd952512 561 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
a8db092e 562reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
8b748aed 563a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
a306c790 564system has a WWW interface at <https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
8b748aed
JM
565WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
566report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
6736e93b 567
a8db092e
CD
568 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
569the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
570good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
571some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
572libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
573is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
574Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
575twice.
1792d4db 576
1f77f049 577 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
1792d4db 578not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
c0389ee4 579Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
41aa20c2
UD
580
581 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
582smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
583library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
584call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
585
586 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
a8db092e 587Do this at <http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
41aa20c2
UD
588
589 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
590doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
591function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
592or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
80ed68b7
RM
593errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
594database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
595include the section names for easier identification.