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1 Installing the GNU C Library
2 ****************************
3
4 Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
5 `http://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/FAQ'. It answers common questions
6 and describes problems you may experience with compilation and
7 installation.
8
9 Features can be added to the GNU C Library via "add-on" bundles. These
10 are separate tar files, which you unpack into the top level of the
11 source tree. Then you give `configure' the `--enable-add-ons' option
12 to activate them, and they will be compiled into the library.
13
14 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC
15 and GNU Make, and possibly others. *Note Tools for Compilation::,
16 below.
17
18 Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
19 ===========================================
20
21 The GNU C Library cannot be compiled in the source directory. You must
22 build it in a separate build directory. For example, if you have
23 unpacked the GNU C Library sources in `/src/gnu/glibc-VERSION', create
24 a directory `/src/gnu/glibc-build' to put the object files in. This
25 allows removing the whole build directory in case an error occurs,
26 which is the safest way to get a fresh start and should always be done.
27
28 From your object directory, run the shell script `configure' located
29 at the top level of the source tree. In the scenario above, you'd type
30
31 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure ARGS...
32
33 Please note that even though you're building in a separate build
34 directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
35 directories in the source directory.
36
37 `configure' takes many options, but the only one that is usually
38 mandatory is `--prefix'. This option tells `configure' where you want
39 the GNU C Library installed. This defaults to `/usr/local', but the
40 normal setting to install as the standard system library is
41 `--prefix=/usr' for GNU/Linux systems and `--prefix=' (an empty prefix)
42 for GNU/Hurd systems.
43
44 It may also be useful to set the CC and CFLAGS variables in the
45 environment when running `configure'. CC selects the C compiler that
46 will be used, and CFLAGS sets optimization options for the compiler.
47
48 The following list describes all of the available options for
49 `configure':
50
51 `--prefix=DIRECTORY'
52 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
53 `DIRECTORY'. The default is to install in `/usr/local'.
54
55 `--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
56 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
57 subdirectories of `DIRECTORY'. The default is to the `--prefix'
58 directory if that option is specified, or `/usr/local' otherwise.
59
60 `--with-headers=DIRECTORY'
61 Look for kernel header files in DIRECTORY, not `/usr/include'.
62 The GNU C Library needs information from the kernel's header files
63 describing the interface to the kernel. The GNU C Library will
64 normally look in `/usr/include' for them, but if you specify this
65 option, it will look in DIRECTORY instead.
66
67 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
68 `/usr/include' come from an older version of the GNU C Library.
69 Conflicts can occasionally happen in this case. You can also use
70 this option if you want to compile the GNU C Library with a newer
71 set of kernel headers than the ones found in `/usr/include'.
72
73 `--enable-add-ons[=LIST]'
74 Specify add-on packages to include in the build. If this option is
75 specified with no list, it enables all the add-on packages it
76 finds in the main source directory; this is the default behavior.
77 You may specify an explicit list of add-ons to use in LIST,
78 separated by spaces or commas (if you use spaces, remember to
79 quote them from the shell). Each add-on in LIST can be an
80 absolute directory name or can be a directory name relative to the
81 main source directory, or relative to the build directory (that
82 is, the current working directory). For example,
83 `--enable-add-ons=nptl,../glibc-libidn-VERSION'.
84
85 `--enable-kernel=VERSION'
86 This option is currently only useful on GNU/Linux systems. The
87 VERSION parameter should have the form X.Y.Z and describes the
88 smallest version of the Linux kernel the generated library is
89 expected to support. The higher the VERSION number is, the less
90 compatibility code is added, and the faster the code gets.
91
92 `--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
93 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in `DIRECTORY', not the
94 ones the C compiler would default to. You can use this option if
95 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
96 constructs in the GNU C Library. In that case, `configure' will
97 detect the problem and suppress these constructs, so that the
98 library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
99 example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
100
101 `--without-fp'
102 Use this option if your computer lacks hardware floating-point
103 support and your operating system does not emulate an FPU.
104
105 `--disable-shared'
106 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
107 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
108 (currently) the GNU linker.
109
110 `--disable-profile'
111 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
112 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
113
114 `--enable-static-nss'
115 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
116 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
117 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
118 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
119
120 `--without-tls'
121 By default the C library is built with support for thread-local
122 storage if the used tools support it. By using `--without-tls'
123 this can be prevented though there generally is no reason since it
124 creates compatibility problems.
125
126 `--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
127 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
128 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
129 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
130
131 `--enable-lock-elision=yes'
132 Enable lock elision for pthread mutexes by default.
133
134 `--enable-pt_chown'
135 The file `pt_chown' is a helper binary for `grantpt' (*note
136 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to
137 fix up pseudo-terminal ownership. It is not built by default
138 because systems using the Linux kernel are commonly built with the
139 `devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at `/dev/pts', which
140 manages pseudo-terminal ownership automatically. By using
141 `--enable-pt_chown', you may build `pt_chown' and install it
142 setuid and owned by `root'. The use of `pt_chown' introduces
143 additional security risks to the system and you should enable it
144 only if you understand and accept those risks.
145
146 `--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
147 `--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
148 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both
149 options and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, `configure'
150 will prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM
151 to be used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the
152 `--with-headers' option too, and you may have to override
153 CONFIGURE's selection of the compiler and/or binutils.
154
155 If you only specify `--host', `configure' will prepare for a
156 native compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what
157 your system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel.
158 For example, if `configure' guesses your machine as
159 `i686-pc-linux-gnu' but you want to compile a library for 586es,
160 give `--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just `--host=i586-linux' and add
161 the appropriate compiler flags (`-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
162 CFLAGS.
163
164 If you specify just `--build', `configure' will get confused.
165
166 `--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
167 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
168 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in `--version'
169 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
170 example, `--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
171 The default value is `GNU libc'.
172
173 `--with-bugurl=URL'
174 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
175 bug, to be included in `--help' output from programs installed with
176 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
177 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
178
179 To build the library and related programs, type `make'. This will
180 produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from `make'
181 but isn't. Look for error messages from `make' containing `***'.
182 Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
183
184 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
185 configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
186 take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
187 machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
188
189 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the `-j' option with
190 an appropriate numeric parameter to `make'. You need a recent GNU
191 `make' version, though.
192
193 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
194 facilities, type `make check'. If it does not complete successfully,
195 do not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
196 problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
197 on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
198 being run by `root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
199 Library as an unprivileged user.
200
201 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
202 The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
203 system such as `/etc/passwd', `/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
204 files must all contain correct and sensible content.
205
206 Normally, `make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
207 problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
208 You can specify `stop-on-test-failure=y' when running `make check' to
209 make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
210 failure occurs.
211
212 To format the `GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
213 `make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
214 distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as
215 Info files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually
216 with `make info'.
217
218 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
219 which you can find in `Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
220 file `configparms'. To change them, create a `configparms' in your
221 build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The
222 file is included and parsed by `make' and has to follow the conventions
223 for makefiles.
224
225 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
226 setting a few variables in `configparms'. Set `CC' to the
227 cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
228 important to use this same `CC' value when running `configure', like
229 this: `CC=TARGET-gcc configure TARGET'. Set `BUILD_CC' to the compiler
230 to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
231 library. You may need to set `AR' to cross-compiling versions of `ar'
232 if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for
233 the target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library,
234 it may be tested using `make check
235 test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
236 is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
237 HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
238 binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must
239 be visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
240
241 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, `test-wrapper' may be set
242 to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
243 This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
244 working directory, all environment variables set as part of testing and
245 the standard input, output and error file descriptors. If
246 `TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with environment
247 variables set, then `test-wrapper-env' must be set to a program that
248 runs a newly built program with environment variable assignments in
249 effect, those assignments being specified as `VAR=VALUE' before the
250 name of the program to be run.
251
252 Installing the C Library
253 ========================
254
255 To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
256 manual, type `env LANGUAGE=C LC_ALL=C make install'. This will build
257 things, if necessary, before installing them; however, you should still
258 compile everything first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as
259 your primary C library, we recommend that you shut the system down to
260 single-user mode first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk
261 of breaking things when the library changes out from underneath.
262
263 `make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
264 installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
265 headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
266 generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you
267 can do things in the following order.
268
269 You must first build the library (`make'), optionally check it
270 (`make check'), switch the include directories and then install (`make
271 install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
272 directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
273 files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
274 library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
275 library. The new `/usr/include', after switching the include
276 directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
277 headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore
278 any headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
279 installing the library.
280
281 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
282 configured it to go by setting the `install_root' variable on the
283 command line for `make install'. The value of this variable is
284 prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
285 setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution.
286 The directory should be specified with an absolute file name.
287
288 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called `nscd', which you may or
289 may not want to run. `nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
290 dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
291 well.
292
293 One auxiliary program, `/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
294 `root' if the `--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
295 program is invoked by the `grantpt' function; it sets the permissions
296 on a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you
297 are using a Linux kernel with the `devpts' filesystem enabled and
298 mounted at `/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
299
300 After installation you might want to configure the timezone and
301 locale installation of your system. The GNU C Library comes with a
302 locale database which gets configured with `localedef'. For example, to
303 set up a German locale with name `de_DE', simply issue the command
304 `localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE'. To configure all locales
305 that are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
306 directory the command `make localedata/install-locales'.
307
308 To configure the locally used timezone, set the `TZ' environment
309 variable. The script `tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
310 As an example, for Germany, `tzselect' would tell you to use
311 `TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
312 are for an installation with `--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
313 which is in `/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file `/etc/localtime'. For
314 Germany, you might execute `ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
315 /etc/localtime'.
316
317 Recommended Tools for Compilation
318 =================================
319
320 We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
321 build the GNU C Library:
322
323 * GNU `make' 3.79 or newer
324
325 You need the latest version of GNU `make'. Modifying the GNU C
326 Library to work with other `make' programs would be so difficult
327 that we recommend you port GNU `make' instead. *Really.* We
328 recommend GNU `make' version 3.79. All earlier versions have
329 severe bugs or lack features.
330
331 * GCC 4.4 or newer, GCC 4.6 recommended
332
333 GCC 4.4 or higher is required; as of this writing, GCC 4.6 is the
334 compiler we advise to use to build the GNU C Library.
335
336 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
337 the GNU C Library.
338
339 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
340 platforms.
341
342 * GNU `binutils' 2.20 or later
343
344 You must use GNU `binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
345 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
346 moment.
347
348 * GNU `texinfo' 4.5 or later
349
350 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
351 need this version of the `texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
352 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
353 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
354 differently.
355
356 * GNU `awk' 3.1.2, or higher
357
358 `awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some `gawk'
359 extensions are used, including the `asorti' function, which was
360 introduced in version 3.1.2 of `gawk'.
361
362 * Perl 5
363
364 Perl is not required, but it is used if present to test the
365 installation. We may decide to use it elsewhere in the future.
366
367 * GNU `sed' 3.02 or newer
368
369 `Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
370 work with any version of `sed'. The known exception is the script
371 `po2test.sed' in the `intl' subdirectory which is used to generate
372 `msgs.h' for the test suite. This script works correctly only
373 with GNU `sed' 3.02. If you like to run the test suite, you
374 should definitely upgrade `sed'.
375
376
377 If you change any of the `configure.ac' files you will also need
378
379 * GNU `autoconf' 2.53 or higher
380
381 and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
382
383 * GNU `gettext' 0.10.36 or later
384
385 You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
386 patches, although we try to avoid this.
387
388 Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
389 =====================================
390
391 If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
392 to have the header files from a 2.6.19.1 or newer kernel around for
393 reference. These headers must be installed using `make
394 headers_install'; the headers present in the kernel source directory
395 are not suitable for direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need
396 to use that kernel, just have its headers installed where the GNU C
397 Library can access them, referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The
398 easiest way to do this is to unpack it in a directory such as
399 `/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that directory, run `make headers_install
400 INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
401 Library with the option `--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'.
402 Use the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
403 cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
404 `ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the `make headers_install' command, where
405 ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
406 `x86' or `powerpc'.)
407
408 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
409 directories such as `/usr/include/linux' and `/usr/include/asm', and
410 replace them with copies of directories such as `linux' and `asm' from
411 `INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
412 `INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
413 Library provides its own version of `/usr/include/scsi'; the files
414 provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those
415 provided by the GNU C Library. The `linux', `asm' and `asm-generic'
416 directories are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library;
417 the other directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not
418 required if not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not
419 need to copy kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel
420 header source using `--with-headers'.
421
422 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
423 components of the GNU C Library installation to be in `/lib' and some
424 in `/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU
425 C Library with `--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow
426 it to default to `/usr/local', then all the components are installed
427 there.
428
429 Reporting Bugs
430 ==============
431
432 There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
433 errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
434 fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
435 remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
436
437 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
438 reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file `BUGS' describes
439 a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
440 system has a WWW interface at `http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/'. The
441 WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
442 report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
443
444 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will
445 be the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a
446 bug. A good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the
447 same way some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and
448 the libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the
449 libraries is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many
450 historical Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as
451 closing a file twice.
452
453 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
454 not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
455 Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
456
457 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
458 smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
459 library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
460 call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
461
462 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
463 Do this at `http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html'.
464
465 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
466 doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
467 function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
468 or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
469 errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
470 database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
471 include the section names for easier identification.