]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/glibc.git/blame - NEWS
Update.
[thirdparty/glibc.git] / NEWS
CommitLineData
e61abf83 1GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1997-03-18
28f540f4 2
33a934a3 3Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
28f540f4
RM
4See the end for copying conditions.
5
33a934a3
UD
6Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
7<bugs@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
8<bug-glibc@prep.ai.mit.edu>.
28f540f4 9\f
c84142e8
UD
10Version 2.1
11
12* An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
1fb05e3d 13 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
c84142e8 14
1fb05e3d 15* Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
c84142e8
UD
16 symbol level.
17
18* Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
19 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
377a515b
UD
20
21* strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X
22
23* printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
24 numbers
25
26* scanf recognizes the %A format for scanning floating point numbers
e61abf83
UD
27
28* the new header <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides information and
29 interfaces for the available integer types
30
31* the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
32 functions from ISO C 9X
33
34* Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0 and 1.
35 The implementation for securelevel 2 will follow as soon as the Diffie-
36 Hellman patent expired.
37
38* Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library
c84142e8 39\f
795fbc9a
UD
40Version 2.0.2
41
42* more bug fixes
43
44* add atoll function
45
46* fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
e61abf83
UD
47
48* fix math functions
795fbc9a
UD
49\f
50Version 2.0.1
51
52* fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
53
54* dynamic loader preserves all registers
55
56* Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
57 the ELF dynamic loader.
58
59* support for parallel builds is improved
60\f
40a4b79f 61Version 2.0
28f540f4 62
d3669add
RM
63* GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
64 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
65 `-D_GNU_SOURCE'.
66
28f540f4
RM
67* The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
68 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
69 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
70 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
787126fe
RM
71 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
72 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
28f540f4
RM
73 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
74 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
75 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
dcf0671d
UD
76 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
77 files in the ELF format.
49e522bf
RM
78
79* Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
80 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
81
82* The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
b25c5d66
RM
83 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
84 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
85 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
86 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
87 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
88 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
89 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
33a934a3
UD
90 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
91 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
92 about dynamically linked binaries.
49e522bf 93
71733723
RM
94* The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
95 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
d3669add
RM
96 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
97 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
98 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
71733723 99
f7eac6eb 100* The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
33a934a3
UD
101 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
102 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
103 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
104 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
105
106* John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
f7eac6eb 107
5f0e6fc7
RM
108* Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
109 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
33a934a3
UD
110 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
111 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
112 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
113 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
114 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
115 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
116 NSS services available.
5f0e6fc7 117
49e522bf
RM
118* The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
119 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
120 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
121
122* The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
123 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
124 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
125
126* Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
127 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
128 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
129 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
130
33a934a3
UD
131* The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
132 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
133 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
134
135* The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
136 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
137 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
138
49e522bf
RM
139* The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
140 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
141
f7eac6eb 142* Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
33a934a3 143 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
b7407d63 144 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
33a934a3
UD
145 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
146
147* There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
148 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
149 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
f7eac6eb 150
71733723 151* You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
49e522bf
RM
152 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
153 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
154 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
d365fd2c
RM
155 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
156 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
49e522bf 157 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
d365fd2c 158 the header file <printf.h> for details.
49e522bf
RM
159
160* The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
161 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
162 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
163 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
164 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
165 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
166 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
28f540f4
RM
167
168* The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
169 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
170 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
171 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
172 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
173 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
174
175* The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
176 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
177
33a934a3
UD
178* The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
179 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
180 NSS scheme used in glibc.
28f540f4
RM
181
182* The new function `malloc_find_object_address' finds the starting address
282d8743
RM
183 of a malloc'd block, given any address within the block;
184 `malloc_object_allocated_size' returns the size of an allocated block;
185 and `malloc_walk' lets you walk through all allocated blocks. These can
186 be useful for debugging; see <malloc.h> for the interfaces.
28f540f4 187
28f540f4
RM
188* There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
189
190* There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
191 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
192 their use is discouraged.
193
194* The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
195 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
787126fe 196
22a1292a
RM
197* New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
198 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
49e522bf
RM
199
200* The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
201 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
202
203* The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
204 see <dirent.h>.
205
206* The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
207 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
33a934a3
UD
208 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
209 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
210 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
342414a6
RM
211
212* The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
213 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
214 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
215 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
c709e372
RM
216
217* Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
218 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
219
220* Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
221 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
222 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
223 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
224 number generator.
225
226* Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
227 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
228
229* Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
230 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
231
71733723 232* Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
c709e372 233 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
33a934a3
UD
234 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
235 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
c709e372 236
d3669add
RM
237* Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
238
33a934a3
UD
239* David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
240 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
241 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
242
243* Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
244 for arithmetic and string handling.
d3669add 245
c709e372 246* Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
40a4b79f
RM
247 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
248 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
249 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
250
251* For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
252 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
253 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
254 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
255 programs already written to use it.)
71733723
RM
256
257* New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
258 constants.
259
260* Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
261 with 4.4 BSD.
262
263* New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
264 a given effective group ID.
265
266* When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
267 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
268 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
269 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
270
271* New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
6d52618b 272 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
71733723
RM
273 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
274 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
275 doing the same thing.
276
277* The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
278 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
279
280* New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
33a934a3 281 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
71733723
RM
282
283* New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
284
f7eac6eb
RM
285* We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
286 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
287 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
6d52618b 288 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
999493cb 289 `-ldb' to get these functions.
f7eac6eb
RM
290
291* New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
292 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
52e9a9d1
RM
293
294* New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
33a934a3
UD
295 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
296 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
297 function.
40a4b79f
RM
298
299* New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
300
301* The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
302 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
303 strings.
304
305* A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
306 and writing the utmp file.
33a934a3
UD
307
308* An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
309 Thorsten Kukuk.
310
311* Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
312 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
313 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
314
315* Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
316 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
317
318* Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
319 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
320 specification.
321
322* The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
323 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
324 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
325 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
326
327* Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
328 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
329 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
330
331* Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
332 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
333 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
334 expression matcher.
335
336* the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
337 functionality.
338
339* The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
340 by Ulrich Drepper.
341
342* David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
343
344* POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
345 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
346 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
28f540f4
RM
347\f
348Version 1.09
349
350* For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
351
352* New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
353 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
354
355* The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
356 want to put themselves in the background.
357
358* Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
359 run without an operating system.
360
361* `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
362 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
363
364* All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
365 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
366
367* The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
368
369* The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
370 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
371 have YP (aka NIS).
372
373* The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
374 conventions.
375
376* The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
377 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
378\f
379Version 1.08
380
381* The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
382 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
383 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
384
385* Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
386 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
387
388* The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
389 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
390
391* New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
392
393* New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
394
395* New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
396 compatibility.
397
398* The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
399 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
400 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
401
402* The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
403
404* The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
405 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
406 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
407
408* The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
409 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
410 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
411 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
412 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
413 on a block).
414
415* It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
416 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
417 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
418 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
419 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
420 cross-compiler.
421
422* The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
423 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
424\f
425Version 1.07
426
427* Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
428 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
429
430* You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
431 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
432 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
433
434* The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
435 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
436 address of the last character written.
437
438* You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
439 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
440
441* You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
442 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
443
444* ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
445 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
446 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
447 you dereference this pointer.
448
449* The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
450 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
451
452* The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
453 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
454 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
455 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
456
457* The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
458 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
459 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
460 EAGAIN in every system call function.
461\f
462Version 1.06
463
464* The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
465 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
466 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
467 in Emacs or the `info' program.
468 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@prep.ai.mit.edu.
469
470* The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
471
472* Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
473
474* Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
475 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
476
477* The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
478 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
479
480* New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
481 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
482
483* The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
484 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
485 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
486 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
487 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
488
489* There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
490 to the error code in `errno'.
491
492* In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
493 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
494 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
495 malloc'd string.
496
497* The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
498 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
499 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
500
501* `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
502 uniquely-named temporary file.
503\f
504Version 1.05
505
506* The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
507 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
508 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
509
510* The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
511 characters.
512
513* `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
514 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
515
516* New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
517\f
518Version 1.04
519
520* The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
521 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
522 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
523 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
524
525* The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
526 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
527 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
528
529* Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
530 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
531
532* The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
533 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
534 made itself into a shared library.
535
536* Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
537 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
538
539* New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
540 with limited length.
541
542* New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
543
544* New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
545
546* New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
547
548* Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
549 function for traversing a directory tree.
550
551* The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
552 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
553 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
554 formatted output directly to an obstack.
555
556* Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
557 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
558
559* `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
560
561* The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
562 things to your strings.
563
564* There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
565
566* Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
567 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
568 supporting those systems.
569
570* `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
571 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
572 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
573 configuration files.
574
575* The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
576 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
577
578* The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
71733723 579 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
28f540f4
RM
580
581* Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
582 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
583 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
584 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
585 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
586 required storage is not available.
587
588* The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
589 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
590 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
591 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
592 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
593 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
594 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
595 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
596 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
597 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
598
599* The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
600 latest files released from Berkeley.
601\f
602----------------------------------------------------------------------
603Copyright information:
604
71733723 605Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
28f540f4
RM
606
607 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
608 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
609 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
610 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
611
612 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
613 of this document, or of portions of it,
614 under the above conditions, provided also that they
615 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
616\f
617Local variables:
618version-control: never
619end: