1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-2-9
3 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 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 * Lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
13 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
14 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
15 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
16 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
17 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
20 * regex now handles multibyte character sets correctly.
21 Contributed by Isamu Hasegawa <isamu@yamato.ibm.com>.
23 * iconv (the program) does now conform to the upcoming XPG6 and handles
24 charmaps. Instead of the charset names the path of charmaps can be
25 provided and the conversion happens based on this data.
26 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
28 * The locale program now provides detailed information about the installed
33 only lists the names of the supported locales
37 provides details such as country, language, and codeset name.
38 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
42 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
43 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
44 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
45 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
46 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
50 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
52 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
54 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
55 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
56 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
58 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
59 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
61 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
62 changed from the default "C" locale.
64 * The usual bug fixes.
68 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
69 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
72 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
74 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
76 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
77 obviously requires a database library being available.
79 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
81 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
83 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
84 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
86 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
88 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
89 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
92 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
93 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
94 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
96 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
97 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
99 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
100 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
101 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
103 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
104 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
105 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
106 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
108 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
109 structures for the wide character tables.
111 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
113 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
115 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
117 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
120 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
122 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
124 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
126 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
128 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
130 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
131 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
132 implemented for Linux.
134 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
135 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
136 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
139 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
142 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
144 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
145 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
146 ******************************************
148 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
149 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
152 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
153 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
156 Recommended Tools for Compilation
157 =================================
159 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
160 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
162 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
163 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
164 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
166 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
167 the recommended solution):
169 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
170 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
171 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
173 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
174 =================================================
176 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
177 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
178 is currently untested. Hence the following options
179 are required for configuring the library:
181 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
183 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
184 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
185 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
186 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
188 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
193 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
197 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
202 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
204 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
218 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
220 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
222 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
224 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
226 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
228 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
230 * Update timezone data files.
232 * lots of charmaps corrections
234 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
239 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
240 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
241 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
242 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
243 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
244 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
246 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
247 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
249 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
252 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
253 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
255 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
257 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
260 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
262 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
263 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
265 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
268 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
269 functions from ISO C 9X.
271 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
272 real valued functions.
274 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
276 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
278 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
280 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
282 * Optimized string functions have been added.
284 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
286 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
288 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
289 daemon for NSS (nscd).
291 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
292 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
296 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
298 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
300 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
302 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
304 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
306 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
308 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
309 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
312 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
313 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
315 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
317 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
319 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
320 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
322 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
324 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
327 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
328 latest draft standards.
330 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
332 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
333 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
334 addseverity NEW: Unix98
336 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
337 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
338 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
339 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
340 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
341 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
342 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
343 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
344 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
345 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
346 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
347 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
348 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
349 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
350 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
351 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
355 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
356 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
366 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
367 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
372 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
373 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
375 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
388 clearerr_locked REMOVED
389 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
392 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
393 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
424 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
425 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
426 endutxent NEW: Unix98
438 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
439 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
440 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
441 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
442 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
444 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
445 ferror_locked REMOVED
446 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
447 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
448 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
449 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
450 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
451 fflush_locked REMOVED
455 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
456 fileno_locked REMOVED
469 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
470 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
481 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
482 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
486 getchar_locked REMOVED
488 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
489 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
491 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
492 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
494 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
496 getutxent NEW: Unix98
498 getutxline NEW: Unix98
500 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
501 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
502 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
503 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
504 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
506 iconv_close NEW: iconv
507 iconv_open NEW: iconv
508 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
509 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
510 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
511 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
512 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
513 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
514 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
515 isastream NEW: STREAMS
516 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
517 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
518 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
519 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
520 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
521 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
522 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
523 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
524 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
525 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
527 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
528 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
529 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
530 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
531 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
539 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
540 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
542 makecontext NEW: Unix98
543 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
546 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
550 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
551 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
552 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
553 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
554 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
555 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
556 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
557 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
561 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
567 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
568 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
569 profil_counter REMOVED
570 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
571 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
572 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
573 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
575 putchar_locked REMOVED
576 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
579 pututxline NEW: Unix98
585 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
586 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
591 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
592 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
593 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
596 setcontext NEW: Unix98
598 setutxent NEW: Unix98
600 sigignore NEW: Unix98
601 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
604 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
605 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
607 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
608 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
612 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
613 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
614 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
615 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
616 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
617 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
618 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
619 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
620 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
621 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
623 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
624 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
631 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
633 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
634 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
635 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
636 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
638 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
639 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
640 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
641 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
642 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
643 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
644 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
647 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
648 write_profiling REMOVED
649 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
650 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
651 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
652 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
653 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
654 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
655 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
656 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
657 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
658 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
659 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
660 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
661 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
662 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
663 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
664 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
675 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
677 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
679 * rewrite of cbrt function
681 * update of timezone data
697 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
703 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
705 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
707 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
708 the ELF dynamic loader.
710 * support for parallel builds is improved
714 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
715 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
718 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
719 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
720 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
721 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
722 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
723 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
724 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
725 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
726 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
727 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
728 files in the ELF format.
730 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
731 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
733 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
734 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
735 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
736 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
737 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
738 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
739 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
740 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
741 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
742 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
743 about dynamically linked binaries.
745 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
746 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
747 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
748 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
749 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
751 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
752 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
753 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
754 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
755 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
757 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
759 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
760 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
761 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
762 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
763 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
764 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
765 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
766 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
767 NSS services available.
769 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
770 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
771 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
773 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
774 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
775 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
777 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
778 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
779 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
780 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
782 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
783 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
784 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
786 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
787 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
788 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
790 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
791 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
793 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
794 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
795 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
796 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
798 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
799 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
800 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
802 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
803 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
804 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
805 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
806 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
807 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
808 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
809 the header file <printf.h> for details.
811 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
812 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
813 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
814 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
815 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
816 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
817 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
819 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
820 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
821 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
822 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
823 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
824 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
826 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
827 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
829 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
830 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
831 NSS scheme used in glibc.
833 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
835 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
836 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
837 their use is discouraged.
839 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
840 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
842 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
843 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
845 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
846 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
848 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
851 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
852 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
853 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
854 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
855 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
857 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
858 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
859 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
860 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
862 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
863 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
865 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
866 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
867 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
868 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
871 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
872 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
874 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
875 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
877 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
878 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
879 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
880 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
882 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
884 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
885 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
886 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
888 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
889 for arithmetic and string handling.
891 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
892 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
893 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
894 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
896 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
897 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
898 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
899 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
900 programs already written to use it.)
902 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
905 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
908 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
909 a given effective group ID.
911 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
912 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
913 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
914 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
916 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
917 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
918 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
919 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
920 doing the same thing.
922 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
923 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
925 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
926 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
928 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
930 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
931 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
932 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
933 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
934 `-ldb' to get these functions.
936 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
937 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
939 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
940 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
941 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
944 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
946 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
947 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
950 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
951 and writing the utmp file.
953 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
956 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
957 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
958 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
960 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
961 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
963 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
964 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
967 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
968 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
969 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
970 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
972 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
973 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
974 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
976 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
977 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
978 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
981 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
984 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
987 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
989 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
990 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
991 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
995 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
997 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
998 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1000 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
1001 want to put themselves in the background.
1003 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
1004 run without an operating system.
1006 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
1007 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
1009 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
1010 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
1012 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
1014 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
1015 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
1018 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1021 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1022 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1026 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1027 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1028 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1030 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1031 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1033 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1034 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1036 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1038 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1040 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1043 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1044 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1045 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1047 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1049 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1050 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1051 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1053 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1054 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1055 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1056 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1057 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1060 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1061 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1062 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1063 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1064 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1067 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1068 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1072 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1073 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1075 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1076 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1077 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1079 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1080 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1081 address of the last character written.
1083 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1084 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1086 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1087 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1089 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1090 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1091 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1092 you dereference this pointer.
1094 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1095 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1097 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1098 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1099 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1100 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1102 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1103 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1104 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1105 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1109 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1110 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1111 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1112 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1113 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1115 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1117 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1119 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1120 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1122 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1123 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1125 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1126 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1128 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1129 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1130 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1131 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1132 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1134 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1135 to the error code in `errno'.
1137 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1138 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1139 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1142 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1143 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1144 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1146 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1147 uniquely-named temporary file.
1151 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1152 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1153 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1155 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1158 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1159 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1161 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1165 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1166 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1167 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1168 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1170 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1171 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1172 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1174 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1175 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1177 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1178 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1179 made itself into a shared library.
1181 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1182 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1184 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1185 with limited length.
1187 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1189 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1191 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1193 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1194 function for traversing a directory tree.
1196 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1197 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1198 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1199 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1201 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1202 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1204 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1206 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1207 things to your strings.
1209 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1211 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1212 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1213 supporting those systems.
1215 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1216 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1217 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1218 configuration files.
1220 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1221 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1223 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1224 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1227 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1228 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1229 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1230 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1231 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1232 required storage is not available.
1234 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1235 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1237 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1238 latest files released from Berkeley.
1240 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1241 Copyright information:
1243 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1245 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1246 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1247 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1248 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1250 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1251 of this document, or of portions of it,
1252 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1253 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1256 version-control: never
projects / thirdparty / glibc.git / blob