]>
Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
71733723 | 1 | GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2 January 1996 |
28f540f4 | 2 | |
71733723 | 3 | Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
28f540f4 RM |
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 | |
787126fe RM |
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 | |
28f540f4 RM |
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. | |
49e522bf RM |
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 | |
b25c5d66 RM |
26 | (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The |
27 | `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to | |
28 | `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is | |
29 | built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries | |
30 | are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time | |
31 | loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The | |
32 | new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time | |
33 | dynamic linker, `ld.so'. | |
49e522bf | 34 | |
71733723 RM |
35 | * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling |
36 | executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code | |
37 | through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The profiling code was adapted | |
38 | from 4.4 BSD-Lite. | |
39 | ||
f7eac6eb RM |
40 | * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from |
41 | Sun, and modified by JT Conklin with i387 support and by Ian Taylor with | |
42 | `float' functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, | |
43 | so programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands. | |
44 | ||
49e522bf RM |
45 | * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from |
46 | strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and | |
47 | `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities). | |
48 | ||
49 | * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from | |
50 | strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values, | |
51 | respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same). | |
52 | ||
53 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point | |
54 | printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and | |
55 | `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly | |
56 | accurate, and much faster than the old ones. | |
57 | ||
58 | * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing | |
59 | various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale'). | |
60 | ||
f7eac6eb RM |
61 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on |
62 | wide-character and multibyte-character strings; see <wcstr.h> and <mbstr.h>. | |
63 | These new functions are intended to conform to the ISO C specification. | |
64 | ||
71733723 | 65 | * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings |
49e522bf RM |
66 | for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example, |
67 | `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints | |
68 | ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different | |
d365fd2c RM |
69 | format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate |
70 | different orderings of the values being printed. To support this | |
49e522bf | 71 | feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see |
d365fd2c | 72 | the header file <printf.h> for details. |
49e522bf RM |
73 | |
74 | * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new | |
75 | formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says | |
76 | to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this | |
77 | says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping | |
78 | separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are | |
79 | not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual | |
80 | conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale). | |
28f540f4 RM |
81 | |
82 | * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much | |
83 | less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid', | |
84 | which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no | |
85 | argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are | |
86 | provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp' | |
87 | with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it. | |
88 | ||
89 | * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that | |
90 | operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD. | |
91 | ||
71733723 | 92 | * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.3 release. |
28f540f4 RM |
93 | |
94 | * The new function `malloc_find_object_address' finds the starting address | |
95 | of a malloc'd block, given any address within the block. This can be | |
96 | useful for debugging. | |
97 | ||
28f540f4 RM |
98 | * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'. |
99 | ||
100 | * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for | |
101 | `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and | |
102 | their use is discouraged. | |
103 | ||
104 | * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now | |
105 | done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld. | |
787126fe | 106 | |
22a1292a RM |
107 | * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access', |
108 | but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs. | |
49e522bf RM |
109 | |
110 | * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest | |
111 | local time conventions of the countries of the world. | |
112 | ||
113 | * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream; | |
114 | see <dirent.h>. | |
115 | ||
116 | * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface | |
117 | for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for | |
118 | compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. | |
342414a6 RM |
119 | |
120 | * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various | |
121 | functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to | |
122 | system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for | |
123 | allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device. | |
c709e372 RM |
124 | |
125 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style | |
126 | shared memory and IPC on systems that support it. | |
127 | ||
128 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found | |
129 | in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective | |
130 | implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple | |
131 | binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random | |
132 | number generator. | |
133 | ||
134 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the | |
135 | `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc. | |
136 | ||
137 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several | |
138 | string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors. | |
139 | ||
71733723 | 140 | * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely |
c709e372 RM |
141 | on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux. |
142 | The GNU library now supports Linux versions 1.3.29 and later, | |
143 | using the ELF object file format (i[345]86-*-linux). | |
144 | ||
145 | * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to | |
146 | support multiple languages, for use with his new package GNU gettext. | |
71733723 RM |
147 | |
148 | * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h> | |
149 | constants. | |
150 | ||
151 | * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility | |
152 | with 4.4 BSD. | |
153 | ||
154 | * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has | |
155 | a given effective group ID. | |
156 | ||
157 | * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a | |
158 | special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *', | |
159 | `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic | |
160 | `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning. | |
161 | ||
162 | * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient | |
163 | function for printing error messages and optionally exitting; this is the | |
164 | canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn', | |
165 | and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for | |
166 | doing the same thing. | |
167 | ||
168 | * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the | |
169 | POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion. | |
170 | ||
171 | * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD. | |
172 | ||
173 | * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it. | |
174 | ||
f7eac6eb RM |
175 | * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header |
176 | files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several | |
177 | types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is | |
178 | an old `ndbm'-compatbile interface using the `db' functions. | |
179 | ||
180 | * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack | |
181 | space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'. | |
28f540f4 RM |
182 | \f |
183 | Version 1.09 | |
184 | ||
185 | * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'. | |
186 | ||
187 | * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and | |
188 | friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD. | |
189 | ||
190 | * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that | |
191 | want to put themselves in the background. | |
192 | ||
193 | * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that | |
194 | run without an operating system. | |
195 | ||
196 | * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long | |
197 | long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'. | |
198 | ||
199 | * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking | |
200 | routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release. | |
201 | ||
202 | * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release. | |
203 | ||
204 | * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the | |
205 | YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which | |
206 | have YP (aka NIS). | |
207 | ||
208 | * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international | |
209 | conventions. | |
210 | ||
211 | * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in | |
212 | $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir). | |
213 | \f | |
214 | Version 1.08 | |
215 | ||
216 | * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free | |
217 | RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs | |
218 | are included. (There is still no support for YP.) | |
219 | ||
220 | * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running | |
221 | Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4). | |
222 | ||
223 | * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking | |
224 | facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility. | |
225 | ||
226 | * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility. | |
227 | ||
228 | * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility. | |
229 | ||
230 | * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for | |
231 | compatibility. | |
232 | ||
233 | * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes | |
234 | the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling | |
235 | function (with versions of GCC that support this). | |
236 | ||
237 | * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>. | |
238 | ||
239 | * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory | |
240 | management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and | |
241 | `madvise', on systems that support those facilities. | |
242 | ||
243 | * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to | |
244 | abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes | |
245 | an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function | |
246 | `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at | |
247 | any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc' | |
248 | on a block). | |
249 | ||
250 | * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one | |
251 | system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All | |
252 | you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the | |
253 | native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a | |
254 | few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the | |
255 | cross-compiler. | |
256 | ||
257 | * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes | |
258 | a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file. | |
259 | \f | |
260 | Version 1.07 | |
261 | ||
262 | * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha | |
263 | running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete. | |
264 | ||
265 | * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix | |
266 | to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install | |
267 | the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever. | |
268 | ||
269 | * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It | |
270 | copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the | |
271 | address of the last character written. | |
272 | ||
273 | * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is | |
274 | compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you. | |
275 | ||
276 | * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the | |
277 | stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor. | |
278 | ||
279 | * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it | |
280 | allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which | |
281 | you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if | |
282 | you dereference this pointer. | |
283 | ||
284 | * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either | |
285 | NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4. | |
286 | ||
287 | * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function | |
288 | for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix | |
289 | systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as | |
290 | `pipe', `fork' and `getppid'). | |
291 | ||
292 | * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined | |
293 | to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels | |
294 | use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to | |
295 | EAGAIN in every system call function. | |
296 | \f | |
297 | Version 1.06 | |
298 | ||
299 | * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library. | |
300 | `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual. | |
301 | `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i | |
302 | in Emacs or the `info' program. | |
303 | Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@prep.ai.mit.edu. | |
304 | ||
305 | * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4). | |
306 | ||
307 | * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2. | |
308 | ||
309 | * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running | |
310 | Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix). | |
311 | ||
312 | * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO | |
313 | ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2). | |
314 | ||
315 | * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when | |
316 | malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you. | |
317 | ||
318 | * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for | |
319 | its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation | |
320 | overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it | |
321 | needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a | |
322 | pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **'). | |
323 | ||
324 | * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding | |
325 | to the error code in `errno'. | |
326 | ||
327 | * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s' | |
328 | or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you | |
329 | pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a | |
330 | malloc'd string. | |
331 | ||
332 | * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and | |
333 | `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a | |
334 | name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching. | |
335 | ||
336 | * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a | |
337 | uniquely-named temporary file. | |
338 | \f | |
339 | Version 1.05 | |
340 | ||
341 | * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is | |
342 | has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more | |
343 | precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'. | |
344 | ||
345 | * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14 | |
346 | characters. | |
347 | ||
348 | * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE. | |
349 | These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'. | |
350 | ||
351 | * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD. | |
352 | \f | |
353 | Version 1.04 | |
354 | ||
355 | * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure' | |
356 | script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU | |
357 | packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged. | |
358 | The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail. | |
359 | ||
360 | * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and | |
361 | traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and | |
362 | it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional'). | |
363 | ||
364 | * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the | |
365 | MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4. | |
366 | ||
367 | * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries. | |
368 | Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be | |
369 | made itself into a shared library. | |
370 | ||
371 | * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems | |
372 | (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V. | |
373 | ||
374 | * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison | |
375 | with limited length. | |
376 | ||
377 | * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'. | |
378 | ||
379 | * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories. | |
380 | ||
381 | * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'. | |
382 | ||
383 | * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw' | |
384 | function for traversing a directory tree. | |
385 | ||
386 | * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library. | |
387 | The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that | |
388 | writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do | |
389 | formatted output directly to an obstack. | |
390 | ||
391 | * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only), | |
392 | cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid. | |
393 | ||
394 | * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'. | |
395 | ||
396 | * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful | |
397 | things to your strings. | |
398 | ||
399 | * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand. | |
400 | ||
401 | * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux. | |
402 | These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really | |
403 | supporting those systems. | |
404 | ||
405 | * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what | |
406 | the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'. | |
407 | This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local | |
408 | configuration files. | |
409 | ||
410 | * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++ | |
411 | compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code. | |
412 | ||
413 | * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy, | |
71733723 | 414 | bcmp, bzero, and ffs. |
28f540f4 RM |
415 | |
416 | * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting | |
417 | function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be | |
418 | significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is | |
419 | now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot | |
420 | of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the | |
421 | required storage is not available. | |
422 | ||
423 | * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which | |
424 | provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points. | |
425 | Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations, | |
426 | we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library. | |
427 | There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called | |
428 | `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just | |
429 | unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and | |
430 | build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users | |
431 | outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from | |
432 | ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S. | |
433 | ||
434 | * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the | |
435 | latest files released from Berkeley. | |
436 | \f | |
437 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
438 | Copyright information: | |
439 | ||
71733723 | 440 | Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
28f540f4 RM |
441 | |
442 | Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies | |
443 | of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the | |
444 | copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved, | |
445 | thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn. | |
446 | ||
447 | Permission is granted to distribute modified versions | |
448 | of this document, or of portions of it, | |
449 | under the above conditions, provided also that they | |
450 | carry prominent notices stating who last changed them. | |
451 | \f | |
452 | Local variables: | |
453 | version-control: never | |
454 | end: |