1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1998-03-04
3 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
7 <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
12 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
13 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
14 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
15 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
16 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
17 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
19 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
20 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
22 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
25 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
26 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
28 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
30 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
33 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
35 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
36 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
38 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
39 functions from ISO C 9X.
41 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
42 real valued functions.
44 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
46 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
48 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
50 * Ulrich Drepper added character conversion functions.
52 * Optimized string functions have been added.
54 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
56 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
58 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
59 daemon for NSS (nscd).
61 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
62 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
66 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
68 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
70 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
72 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
74 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
76 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
78 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
79 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
82 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
83 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
85 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
87 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
89 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
90 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
92 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
94 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
95 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
96 addseverity NEW: fmtmsg
98 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp
100 argp_failure NEW: argp
103 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp
104 argp_program_version NEW: argp
105 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp
106 argp_state_help NEW: argp
108 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
109 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
110 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
111 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
112 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
113 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
117 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
118 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
128 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
129 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
134 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
135 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
137 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
150 clearerr_locked REMOVED
151 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
154 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
155 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
186 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
187 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
200 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
201 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
202 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
203 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
204 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
206 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
207 ferror_locked REMOVED
208 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
209 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
210 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
211 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
212 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
213 fflush_locked REMOVED
217 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
218 fileno_locked REMOVED
231 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
232 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
243 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
244 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
248 getchar_locked REMOVED
250 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
251 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
253 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
254 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
256 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
260 getutxline NEW: utmpx
262 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
263 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
264 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
265 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
266 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
268 iconv_close NEW: iconv
269 iconv_open NEW: iconv
270 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
271 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
272 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
273 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
274 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
275 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
276 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
277 isastream NEW: STREAMS
278 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
279 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
280 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
281 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
282 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
283 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
284 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
285 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
286 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
287 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
289 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
290 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
291 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
292 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
293 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
301 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
302 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
304 makecontext NEW: Unix98
305 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
308 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
312 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
313 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
314 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
315 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
316 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
317 nextafterx NEW: ISO C 9x
318 nextafterxf NEW: ISO C 9x
322 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
328 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
329 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
330 profil_counter REMOVED
331 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
332 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
333 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
334 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
336 putchar_locked REMOVED
337 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
340 pututxline NEW: utmpx
346 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
347 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
352 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
353 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
354 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
357 setcontext NEW: Unix98
361 sigignore NEW: Unix98
362 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
365 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
366 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
368 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
369 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
373 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
374 strfxtime NEW: ISO C 9x
375 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
376 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
377 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
378 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
379 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
380 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
381 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
382 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
383 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
385 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
386 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
393 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
395 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
397 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
398 versionsort64 NEW: LFS
400 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
401 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
402 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
403 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
404 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
405 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
406 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
409 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
410 write_profiling REMOVED
411 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
412 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
413 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
414 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
415 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
416 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
417 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
418 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
419 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
420 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
421 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
422 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
423 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
424 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
425 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
426 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
432 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
434 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
436 * rewrite of cbrt function
438 * update of timezone data
454 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
460 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
462 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
464 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
465 the ELF dynamic loader.
467 * support for parallel builds is improved
471 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
472 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
475 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
476 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
477 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
478 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
479 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
480 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
481 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
482 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
483 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
484 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
485 files in the ELF format.
487 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
488 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
490 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
491 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
492 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
493 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
494 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
495 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
496 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
497 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
498 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
499 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
500 about dynamically linked binaries.
502 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
503 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
504 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
505 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
506 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
508 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
509 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
510 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
511 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
512 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
514 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
516 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
517 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
518 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
519 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
520 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
521 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
522 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
523 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
524 NSS services available.
526 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
527 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
528 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
530 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
531 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
532 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
534 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
535 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
536 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
537 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
539 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
540 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
541 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
543 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
544 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
545 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
547 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
548 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
550 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
551 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
552 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
553 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
555 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
556 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
557 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
559 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
560 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
561 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
562 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
563 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
564 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
565 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
566 the header file <printf.h> for details.
568 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
569 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
570 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
571 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
572 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
573 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
574 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
576 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
577 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
578 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
579 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
580 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
581 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
583 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
584 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
586 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
587 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
588 NSS scheme used in glibc.
590 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
592 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
593 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
594 their use is discouraged.
596 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
597 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
599 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
600 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
602 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
603 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
605 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
608 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
609 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
610 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
611 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
612 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
614 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
615 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
616 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
617 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
619 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
620 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
622 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
623 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
624 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
625 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
628 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
629 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
631 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
632 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
634 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
635 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
636 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
637 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
639 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
641 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
642 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
643 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
645 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
646 for arithmetic and string handling.
648 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
649 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
650 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
651 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
653 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
654 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
655 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
656 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
657 programs already written to use it.)
659 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
662 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
665 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
666 a given effective group ID.
668 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
669 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
670 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
671 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
673 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
674 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
675 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
676 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
677 doing the same thing.
679 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
680 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
682 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
683 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
685 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
687 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
688 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
689 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
690 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
691 `-ldb' to get these functions.
693 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
694 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
696 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
697 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
698 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
701 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
703 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
704 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
707 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
708 and writing the utmp file.
710 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
713 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
714 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
715 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
717 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
718 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
720 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
721 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
724 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
725 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
726 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
727 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
729 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
730 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
731 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
733 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
734 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
735 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
738 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
741 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
744 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
746 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
747 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
748 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
752 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
754 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
755 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
757 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
758 want to put themselves in the background.
760 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
761 run without an operating system.
763 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
764 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
766 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
767 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
769 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
771 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
772 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
775 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
778 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
779 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
783 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
784 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
785 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
787 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
788 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
790 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
791 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
793 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
795 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
797 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
800 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
801 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
802 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
804 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
806 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
807 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
808 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
810 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
811 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
812 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
813 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
814 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
817 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
818 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
819 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
820 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
821 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
824 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
825 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
829 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
830 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
832 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
833 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
834 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
836 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
837 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
838 address of the last character written.
840 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
841 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
843 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
844 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
846 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
847 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
848 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
849 you dereference this pointer.
851 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
852 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
854 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
855 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
856 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
857 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
859 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
860 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
861 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
862 EAGAIN in every system call function.
866 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
867 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
868 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
869 in Emacs or the `info' program.
870 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
872 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
874 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
876 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
877 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
879 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
880 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
882 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
883 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
885 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
886 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
887 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
888 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
889 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
891 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
892 to the error code in `errno'.
894 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
895 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
896 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
899 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
900 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
901 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
903 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
904 uniquely-named temporary file.
908 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
909 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
910 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
912 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
915 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
916 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
918 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
922 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
923 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
924 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
925 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
927 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
928 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
929 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
931 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
932 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
934 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
935 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
936 made itself into a shared library.
938 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
939 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
941 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
944 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
946 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
948 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
950 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
951 function for traversing a directory tree.
953 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
954 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
955 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
956 formatted output directly to an obstack.
958 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
959 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
961 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
963 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
964 things to your strings.
966 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
968 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
969 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
970 supporting those systems.
972 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
973 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
974 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
977 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
978 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
980 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
981 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
983 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
984 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
985 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
986 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
987 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
988 required storage is not available.
990 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
991 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
992 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
993 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
994 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
995 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
996 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
997 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
998 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
999 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1001 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1002 latest files released from Berkeley.
1004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1005 Copyright information:
1007 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1009 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1010 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1011 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1012 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1014 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1015 of this document, or of portions of it,
1016 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1017 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1020 version-control: never
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