1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-4-20
2 Copyright (C) 1992-2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
6 <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
11 * Stephen Moshier implemented expm1, log1p, acos, sinh for the 128-bit
16 * Intel's IA-64 math library is largely integrated. It provides fast and
17 accurate implementatations for most basic and standard math functions
18 in float, double, and long double format.
20 * Stephen Moshier implemented j0, j1, jn, y0, y1, yn, lgamma, erf, erfc,
21 and asin for the 96-bit long double format and asin, log, tan for the
22 128-bit long double format.
24 * The beginning of a last-bit accurate math library by IBM Haifa were added.
25 The basic double functions exist today. Contributed by Abraham Ziv
26 <ziv@il.ibm.com>, Moshe Olshansky <olshansk@il.ibm.com>, Ealan Henis
27 <ealan@il.ibm.com>, and Anna Reitman <reitman@il.ibm.com>.
29 * An asynchronous name lookup library was added. The interface is designed
30 after POSIX AIO. The proposal was circulated beforehand to get comments.
31 No negative ones came in. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
33 * Port to S390/64bit contributed by Martin Schwidefsky
34 <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com>.
36 * David Mosberger <davidm@hpl.hp.com> implemented the setcontext family
37 of functions for Linux/IA-64.
39 * The RPC code is now thread safe. Threads can now use the same service
40 of different services at the same time. Patch by Eric Norum
41 <eric.norum@usask.ca> with some help by Ulrich Drepper.
43 * Martin Schwidefsky <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com> implemented the setcontext
44 family of functions for Linux/S390.
46 * Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> implemented the setcontext family
47 of functions for Linux/x86.
49 * Port to Linux/CRIS contributed by Axis Communications.
53 * Lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
54 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
55 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
56 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
57 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
58 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
61 * regex now handles multibyte character sets correctly.
62 Contributed by Isamu Hasegawa <isamu@yamato.ibm.com>.
64 * iconv (the program) does now conform to the upcoming XPG6 and handles
65 charmaps. Instead of the charset names the path of charmaps can be
66 provided and the conversion happens based on this data.
67 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
69 * The locale program now provides detailed information about the installed
74 only lists the names of the supported locales
78 provides details such as country, language, and codeset name.
79 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
83 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
84 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
85 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
86 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
87 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
91 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
93 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
95 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
96 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
97 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
99 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
100 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
102 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
103 changed from the default "C" locale.
105 * The usual bug fixes.
109 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
110 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
113 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
115 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
117 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
118 obviously requires a database library being available.
120 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
122 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
124 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
125 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
127 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
129 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
130 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
133 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
134 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
135 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
137 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
138 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
140 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
141 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
142 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
144 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
145 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
146 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
147 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
149 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
150 structures for the wide character tables.
152 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
154 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
156 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
158 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
161 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
163 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
165 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
167 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
169 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
171 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
172 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
173 implemented for Linux.
175 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
176 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
177 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
180 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
183 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
185 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
186 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
187 ******************************************
189 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
190 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
193 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
194 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
197 Recommended Tools for Compilation
198 =================================
200 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
201 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
203 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
204 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
205 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
207 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
208 the recommended solution):
210 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
211 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
212 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
214 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
215 =================================================
217 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
218 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
219 is currently untested. Hence the following options
220 are required for configuring the library:
222 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
224 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
225 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
226 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
227 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
229 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
234 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
238 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
243 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
245 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
259 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
261 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
263 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
265 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
267 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
269 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
271 * Update timezone data files.
273 * lots of charmaps corrections
275 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
280 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
281 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
282 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
283 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
284 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
285 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
287 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
288 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
290 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
293 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
294 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
296 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
298 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
301 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
303 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
304 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
306 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
309 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
310 functions from ISO C 9X.
312 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
313 real valued functions.
315 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
317 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
319 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
321 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
323 * Optimized string functions have been added.
325 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
327 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
329 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
330 daemon for NSS (nscd).
332 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
333 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
337 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
339 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
341 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
343 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
345 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
347 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
349 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
350 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
353 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
354 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
356 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
358 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
360 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
361 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
363 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
365 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
368 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
369 latest draft standards.
371 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
373 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
374 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
375 addseverity NEW: Unix98
377 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
378 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
379 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
380 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
381 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
382 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
383 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
384 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
385 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
386 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
387 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
388 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
389 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
390 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
391 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
392 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
396 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
397 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
407 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
408 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
413 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
414 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
416 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
429 clearerr_locked REMOVED
430 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
433 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
434 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
465 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
466 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
467 endutxent NEW: Unix98
479 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
480 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
481 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
482 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
483 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
485 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
486 ferror_locked REMOVED
487 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
488 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
489 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
490 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
491 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
492 fflush_locked REMOVED
496 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
497 fileno_locked REMOVED
510 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
511 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
522 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
523 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
527 getchar_locked REMOVED
529 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
530 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
532 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
533 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
535 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
537 getutxent NEW: Unix98
539 getutxline NEW: Unix98
541 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
542 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
543 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
544 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
545 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
547 iconv_close NEW: iconv
548 iconv_open NEW: iconv
549 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
550 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
551 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
552 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
553 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
554 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
555 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
556 isastream NEW: STREAMS
557 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
558 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
559 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
560 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
561 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
562 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
563 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
564 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
565 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
566 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
568 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
569 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
570 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
571 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
572 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
580 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
581 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
583 makecontext NEW: Unix98
584 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
587 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
591 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
592 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
593 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
594 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
595 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
596 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
597 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
598 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
602 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
608 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
609 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
610 profil_counter REMOVED
611 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
612 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
613 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
614 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
616 putchar_locked REMOVED
617 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
620 pututxline NEW: Unix98
626 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
627 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
632 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
633 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
634 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
637 setcontext NEW: Unix98
639 setutxent NEW: Unix98
641 sigignore NEW: Unix98
642 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
645 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
646 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
648 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
649 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
653 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
654 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
655 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
656 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
657 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
658 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
659 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
660 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
661 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
662 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
664 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
665 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
672 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
674 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
675 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
676 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
677 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
679 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
680 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
681 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
682 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
683 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
684 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
685 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
688 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
689 write_profiling REMOVED
690 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
691 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
692 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
693 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
694 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
695 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
696 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
697 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
698 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
699 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
700 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
701 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
702 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
703 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
704 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
705 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
716 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
718 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
720 * rewrite of cbrt function
722 * update of timezone data
738 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
744 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
746 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
748 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
749 the ELF dynamic loader.
751 * support for parallel builds is improved
755 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
756 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
759 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
760 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
761 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
762 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
763 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
764 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
765 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
766 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
767 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
768 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
769 files in the ELF format.
771 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
772 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
774 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
775 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
776 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
777 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
778 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
779 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
780 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
781 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
782 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
783 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
784 about dynamically linked binaries.
786 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
787 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
788 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
789 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
790 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
792 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
793 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
794 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
795 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
796 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
798 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
800 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
801 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
802 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
803 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
804 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
805 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
806 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
807 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
808 NSS services available.
810 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
811 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
812 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
814 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
815 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
816 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
818 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
819 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
820 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
821 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
823 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
824 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
825 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
827 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
828 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
829 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
831 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
832 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
834 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
835 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
836 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
837 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
839 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
840 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
841 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
843 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
844 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
845 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
846 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
847 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
848 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
849 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
850 the header file <printf.h> for details.
852 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
853 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
854 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
855 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
856 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
857 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
858 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
860 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
861 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
862 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
863 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
864 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
865 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
867 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
868 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
870 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
871 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
872 NSS scheme used in glibc.
874 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
876 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
877 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
878 their use is discouraged.
880 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
881 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
883 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
884 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
886 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
887 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
889 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
892 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
893 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
894 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
895 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
896 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
898 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
899 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
900 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
901 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
903 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
904 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
906 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
907 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
908 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
909 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
912 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
913 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
915 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
916 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
918 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
919 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
920 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
921 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
923 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
925 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
926 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
927 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
929 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
930 for arithmetic and string handling.
932 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
933 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
934 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
935 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
937 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
938 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
939 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
940 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
941 programs already written to use it.)
943 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
946 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
949 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
950 a given effective group ID.
952 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
953 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
954 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
955 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
957 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
958 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
959 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
960 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
961 doing the same thing.
963 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
964 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
966 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
967 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
969 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
971 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
972 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
973 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
974 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
975 `-ldb' to get these functions.
977 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
978 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
980 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
981 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
982 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
985 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
987 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
988 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
991 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
992 and writing the utmp file.
994 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
997 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
998 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
999 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
1001 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
1002 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
1004 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
1005 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
1008 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
1009 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
1010 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
1011 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
1013 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
1014 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
1015 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
1017 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
1018 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
1019 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
1022 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
1025 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
1028 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
1030 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
1031 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
1032 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
1036 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
1038 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
1039 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1041 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
1042 want to put themselves in the background.
1044 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
1045 run without an operating system.
1047 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
1048 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
1050 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
1051 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
1053 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
1055 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
1056 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
1059 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1062 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1063 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1067 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1068 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1069 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1071 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1072 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1074 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1075 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1077 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1079 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1081 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1084 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1085 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1086 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1088 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1090 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1091 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1092 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1094 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1095 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1096 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1097 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1098 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1101 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1102 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1103 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1104 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1105 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1108 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1109 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1113 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1114 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1116 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1117 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1118 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1120 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1121 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1122 address of the last character written.
1124 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1125 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1127 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1128 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1130 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1131 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1132 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1133 you dereference this pointer.
1135 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1136 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1138 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1139 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1140 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1141 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1143 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1144 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1145 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1146 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1150 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1151 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1152 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1153 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1154 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1156 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1158 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1160 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1161 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1163 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1164 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1166 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1167 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1169 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1170 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1171 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1172 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1173 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1175 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1176 to the error code in `errno'.
1178 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1179 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1180 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1183 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1184 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1185 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1187 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1188 uniquely-named temporary file.
1192 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1193 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1194 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1196 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1199 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1200 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1202 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1206 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1207 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1208 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1209 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1211 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1212 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1213 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1215 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1216 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1218 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1219 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1220 made itself into a shared library.
1222 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1223 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1225 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1226 with limited length.
1228 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1230 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1232 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1234 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1235 function for traversing a directory tree.
1237 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1238 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1239 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1240 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1242 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1243 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1245 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1247 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1248 things to your strings.
1250 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1252 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1253 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1254 supporting those systems.
1256 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1257 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1258 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1259 configuration files.
1261 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1262 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1264 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1265 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1268 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1269 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1270 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1271 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1272 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1273 required storage is not available.
1275 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1276 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1278 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1279 latest files released from Berkeley.
1281 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1282 Copyright information:
1284 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1286 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1287 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1288 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1289 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1291 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1292 of this document, or of portions of it,
1293 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1294 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1297 version-control: never
projects / thirdparty / glibc.git / blob