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49e522bf | 1 | GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 21 March 1995 |
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2 | |
3 | Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc. | |
4 | See the end for copying conditions. | |
5 | ||
6 | Please send GNU C library bug reports to bug-glibc@prep.ai.mit.edu. | |
7 | \f | |
8 | Version 1.10 | |
9 | ||
10 | * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak | |
11 | symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak | |
12 | symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There | |
13 | is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the | |
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14 | `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and |
15 | `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion | |
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16 | of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of |
17 | the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to | |
18 | less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files. | |
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19 | There is a new header file <elf.h> and new library `-lelf' for |
20 | programs which operate on files in the ELF format. | |
21 | ||
22 | * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options. | |
23 | Run `configure --help' to see the details. | |
24 | ||
25 | * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized | |
26 | (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). | |
27 | The `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' | |
28 | options to `configure' enable building these extra libraries. | |
29 | The shared library is built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. | |
30 | ||
31 | * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from | |
32 | strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and | |
33 | `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities). | |
34 | ||
35 | * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from | |
36 | strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values, | |
37 | respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same). | |
38 | ||
39 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point | |
40 | printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and | |
41 | `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly | |
42 | accurate, and much faster than the old ones. | |
43 | ||
44 | * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing | |
45 | various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale'). | |
46 | ||
47 | * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings | |
48 | for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example, | |
49 | `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints | |
50 | ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different | |
51 | format strings for different languages, whose grammar may dictate | |
52 | a different ordering of the values being printed. To support this | |
53 | feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see | |
54 | the header file <printf.h>. | |
55 | ||
56 | * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new | |
57 | formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says | |
58 | to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this | |
59 | says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping | |
60 | separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are | |
61 | not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual | |
62 | conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale). | |
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63 | |
64 | * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much | |
65 | less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid', | |
66 | which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no | |
67 | argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are | |
68 | provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp' | |
69 | with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it. | |
70 | ||
71 | * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that | |
72 | operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD. | |
73 | ||
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74 | * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA14 release. |
75 | ||
76 | * The new function `malloc_find_object_address' finds the starting address | |
77 | of a malloc'd block, given any address within the block. This can be | |
78 | useful for debugging. | |
79 | ||
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80 | * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'. |
81 | ||
82 | * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for | |
83 | `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and | |
84 | their use is discouraged. | |
85 | ||
86 | * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now | |
87 | done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld. | |
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89 | * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access', |
90 | but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs. | |
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91 | |
92 | * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest | |
93 | local time conventions of the countries of the world. | |
94 | ||
95 | * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream; | |
96 | see <dirent.h>. | |
97 | ||
98 | * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface | |
99 | for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for | |
100 | compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. | |
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101 | \f |
102 | Version 1.09 | |
103 | ||
104 | * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'. | |
105 | ||
106 | * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and | |
107 | friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD. | |
108 | ||
109 | * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that | |
110 | want to put themselves in the background. | |
111 | ||
112 | * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that | |
113 | run without an operating system. | |
114 | ||
115 | * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long | |
116 | long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'. | |
117 | ||
118 | * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking | |
119 | routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release. | |
120 | ||
121 | * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release. | |
122 | ||
123 | * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the | |
124 | YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which | |
125 | have YP (aka NIS). | |
126 | ||
127 | * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international | |
128 | conventions. | |
129 | ||
130 | * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in | |
131 | $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir). | |
132 | \f | |
133 | Version 1.08 | |
134 | ||
135 | * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free | |
136 | RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs | |
137 | are included. (There is still no support for YP.) | |
138 | ||
139 | * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running | |
140 | Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4). | |
141 | ||
142 | * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking | |
143 | facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility. | |
144 | ||
145 | * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility. | |
146 | ||
147 | * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility. | |
148 | ||
149 | * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for | |
150 | compatibility. | |
151 | ||
152 | * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes | |
153 | the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling | |
154 | function (with versions of GCC that support this). | |
155 | ||
156 | * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>. | |
157 | ||
158 | * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory | |
159 | management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and | |
160 | `madvise', on systems that support those facilities. | |
161 | ||
162 | * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to | |
163 | abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes | |
164 | an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function | |
165 | `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at | |
166 | any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc' | |
167 | on a block). | |
168 | ||
169 | * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one | |
170 | system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All | |
171 | you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the | |
172 | native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a | |
173 | few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the | |
174 | cross-compiler. | |
175 | ||
176 | * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes | |
177 | a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file. | |
178 | \f | |
179 | Version 1.07 | |
180 | ||
181 | * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha | |
182 | running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete. | |
183 | ||
184 | * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix | |
185 | to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install | |
186 | the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever. | |
187 | ||
188 | * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It | |
189 | copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the | |
190 | address of the last character written. | |
191 | ||
192 | * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is | |
193 | compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you. | |
194 | ||
195 | * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the | |
196 | stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor. | |
197 | ||
198 | * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it | |
199 | allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which | |
200 | you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if | |
201 | you dereference this pointer. | |
202 | ||
203 | * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either | |
204 | NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4. | |
205 | ||
206 | * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function | |
207 | for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix | |
208 | systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as | |
209 | `pipe', `fork' and `getppid'). | |
210 | ||
211 | * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined | |
212 | to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels | |
213 | use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to | |
214 | EAGAIN in every system call function. | |
215 | \f | |
216 | Version 1.06 | |
217 | ||
218 | * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library. | |
219 | `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual. | |
220 | `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i | |
221 | in Emacs or the `info' program. | |
222 | Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@prep.ai.mit.edu. | |
223 | ||
224 | * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4). | |
225 | ||
226 | * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2. | |
227 | ||
228 | * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running | |
229 | Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix). | |
230 | ||
231 | * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO | |
232 | ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2). | |
233 | ||
234 | * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when | |
235 | malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you. | |
236 | ||
237 | * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for | |
238 | its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation | |
239 | overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it | |
240 | needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a | |
241 | pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **'). | |
242 | ||
243 | * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding | |
244 | to the error code in `errno'. | |
245 | ||
246 | * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s' | |
247 | or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you | |
248 | pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a | |
249 | malloc'd string. | |
250 | ||
251 | * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and | |
252 | `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a | |
253 | name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching. | |
254 | ||
255 | * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a | |
256 | uniquely-named temporary file. | |
257 | \f | |
258 | Version 1.05 | |
259 | ||
260 | * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is | |
261 | has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more | |
262 | precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'. | |
263 | ||
264 | * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14 | |
265 | characters. | |
266 | ||
267 | * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE. | |
268 | These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'. | |
269 | ||
270 | * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD. | |
271 | \f | |
272 | Version 1.04 | |
273 | ||
274 | * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure' | |
275 | script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU | |
276 | packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged. | |
277 | The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail. | |
278 | ||
279 | * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and | |
280 | traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and | |
281 | it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional'). | |
282 | ||
283 | * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the | |
284 | MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4. | |
285 | ||
286 | * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries. | |
287 | Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be | |
288 | made itself into a shared library. | |
289 | ||
290 | * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems | |
291 | (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V. | |
292 | ||
293 | * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison | |
294 | with limited length. | |
295 | ||
296 | * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'. | |
297 | ||
298 | * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories. | |
299 | ||
300 | * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'. | |
301 | ||
302 | * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw' | |
303 | function for traversing a directory tree. | |
304 | ||
305 | * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library. | |
306 | The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that | |
307 | writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do | |
308 | formatted output directly to an obstack. | |
309 | ||
310 | * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only), | |
311 | cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid. | |
312 | ||
313 | * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'. | |
314 | ||
315 | * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful | |
316 | things to your strings. | |
317 | ||
318 | * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand. | |
319 | ||
320 | * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux. | |
321 | These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really | |
322 | supporting those systems. | |
323 | ||
324 | * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what | |
325 | the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'. | |
326 | This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local | |
327 | configuration files. | |
328 | ||
329 | * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++ | |
330 | compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code. | |
331 | ||
332 | * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy, | |
333 | bcmp, bzero, and ffs. | |
334 | ||
335 | * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting | |
336 | function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be | |
337 | significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is | |
338 | now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot | |
339 | of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the | |
340 | required storage is not available. | |
341 | ||
342 | * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which | |
343 | provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points. | |
344 | Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations, | |
345 | we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library. | |
346 | There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called | |
347 | `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just | |
348 | unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and | |
349 | build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users | |
350 | outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from | |
351 | ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S. | |
352 | ||
353 | * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the | |
354 | latest files released from Berkeley. | |
355 | \f | |
356 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
357 | Copyright information: | |
358 | ||
359 | Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc. | |
360 | ||
361 | Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
362 | of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the | |
363 | copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved, | |
364 | thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn. | |
365 | ||
366 | Permission is granted to distribute modified versions | |
367 | of this document, or of portions of it, | |
368 | under the above conditions, provided also that they | |
369 | carry prominent notices stating who last changed them. | |
370 | \f | |
371 | Local variables: | |
372 | version-control: never | |
373 | end: |