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1Installing the GNU C Library
2****************************
41aa20c2 3
6a3951a0 4Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
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5<https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/FAQ>. It answers common questions
6and describes problems you may experience with compilation and
7installation.
41aa20c2 8
00c1176b 9 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC
fe959e1e 10and GNU Make, and possibly others. *Note Tools for Compilation::,
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11below.
12
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13Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
14===========================================
00c1176b 15
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16The GNU C Library cannot be compiled in the source directory. You must
17build it in a separate build directory. For example, if you have
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18unpacked the GNU C Library sources in '/src/gnu/glibc-VERSION', create a
19directory '/src/gnu/glibc-build' to put the object files in. This
20allows removing the whole build directory in case an error occurs, which
21is the safest way to get a fresh start and should always be done.
00c1176b 22
a8db092e 23 From your object directory, run the shell script 'configure' located
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24at the top level of the source tree. In the scenario above, you'd type
25
f1e86fca 26 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure ARGS...
00c1176b 27
3858bf28 28 Please note that even though you're building in a separate build
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29directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
30directories in the source directory.
f05f5ca3 31
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32'configure' takes many options, but the only one that is usually
33mandatory is '--prefix'. This option tells 'configure' where you want
34the GNU C Library installed. This defaults to '/usr/local', but the
1f77f049 35normal setting to install as the standard system library is
a8db092e 36'--prefix=/usr' for GNU/Linux systems and '--prefix=' (an empty prefix)
1f77f049 37for GNU/Hurd systems.
00c1176b 38
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39 It may also be useful to pass 'CC=COMPILER' and 'CFLAGS=FLAGS'
40arguments to 'configure'. 'CC' selects the C compiler that will be
41used, and 'CFLAGS' sets optimization options for the compiler. Any
42compiler options required for all compilations, such as options
43selecting an ABI or a processor for which to generate code, should be
44included in 'CC'. Options that may be overridden by the GNU C Library
45build system for particular files, such as for optimization and
46debugging, should go in 'CFLAGS'. The default value of 'CFLAGS' is '-g
47-O2', and the GNU C Library cannot be compiled without optimization, so
48if 'CFLAGS' is specified it must enable optimization. For example:
49
50 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure CC="gcc -m32" CFLAGS="-O3"
00c1176b 51
bd952512 52 The following list describes all of the available options for
a8db092e 53'configure':
00c1176b 54
a8db092e 55'--prefix=DIRECTORY'
00c1176b 56 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
a8db092e 57 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to install in '/usr/local'.
00c1176b 58
a8db092e 59'--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
00c1176b 60 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
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61 subdirectories of 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to the '--prefix'
62 directory if that option is specified, or '/usr/local' otherwise.
00c1176b 63
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64'--with-headers=DIRECTORY'
65 Look for kernel header files in DIRECTORY, not '/usr/include'. The
66 GNU C Library needs information from the kernel's header files
1f77f049 67 describing the interface to the kernel. The GNU C Library will
a8db092e 68 normally look in '/usr/include' for them, but if you specify this
1f77f049 69 option, it will look in DIRECTORY instead.
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70
71 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
a8db092e 72 '/usr/include' come from an older version of the GNU C Library.
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73 Conflicts can occasionally happen in this case. You can also use
74 this option if you want to compile the GNU C Library with a newer
a8db092e 75 set of kernel headers than the ones found in '/usr/include'.
41aa20c2 76
a8db092e 77'--enable-kernel=VERSION'
90d1d40b 78 This option is currently only useful on GNU/Linux systems. The
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79 VERSION parameter should have the form X.Y.Z and describes the
80 smallest version of the Linux kernel the generated library is
81 expected to support. The higher the VERSION number is, the less
82 compatibility code is added, and the faster the code gets.
83
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84'--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
85 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in 'DIRECTORY', not the
6736e93b 86 ones the C compiler would default to. You can use this option if
41aa20c2 87 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
a8db092e 88 constructs in the GNU C Library. In that case, 'configure' will
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89 detect the problem and suppress these constructs, so that the
90 library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
91 example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
41aa20c2 92
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93'--with-nonshared-cflags=CFLAGS'
94 Use additional compiler flags CFLAGS to build the parts of the
95 library which are always statically linked into applications and
96 libraries even with shared linking (that is, the object files
97 contained in 'lib*_nonshared.a' libraries). The build process will
98 automatically use the appropriate flags, but this option can be
99 used to set additional flags required for building applications and
100 libraries, to match local policy. For example, if such a policy
101 requires that all code linked into applications must be built with
102 source fortification,
103 '--with-nonshared-cflags=-Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' will make sure
104 that the objects in 'libc_nonshared.a' are compiled with this flag
105 (although this will not affect the generated code in this
106 particular case and potentially change debugging information and
107 metadata only).
108
a8db092e 109'--disable-shared'
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110 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
111 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
112 (currently) the GNU linker.
41aa20c2 113
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114'--enable-static-pie'
115 Enable static position independent executable (static PIE) support.
116 Static PIE is similar to static executable, but can be loaded at
117 any address without help from a dynamic linker. All static
118 programs as well as static tests are built as static PIE, except
119 for those marked with no-pie. The resulting glibc can be used with
120 the GCC option, -static-pie, which is available with GCC 8 or
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121 above, to create static PIE. This option also implies that glibc
122 programs and tests are created as dynamic position independent
123 executables (PIE) by default.
9d7a3741 124
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125'--enable-cet'
126 Enable Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) support.
127 When the GNU C Library is built with '--enable-cet', the resulting
128 library is protected with indirect branch tracking (IBT) and shadow
129 stack (SHSTK). When CET is enabled, the GNU C Library is
130 compatible with all existing executables and shared libraries.
131 This feature is currently supported on i386, x86_64 and x32 with
132 GCC 8 and binutils 2.29 or later. Note that when CET is enabled,
133 the GNU C Library requires CPUs capable of multi-byte NOPs, like
134 x86-64 processors as well as Intel Pentium Pro or newer.
135
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136 NOTE: '--enable-cet' has been tested for i686, x86_64 and x32 on
137 non-CET processors. '--enable-cet' has been tested for x86_64 and
138 x32 on CET SDVs, but Intel CET support hasn't been validated for
139 i686.
140
a8db092e 141'--disable-profile'
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142 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
143 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
41aa20c2 144
a8db092e 145'--enable-static-nss'
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146 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
147 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
148 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
149 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
150
a8db092e 151'--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
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152 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
153 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
154 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
155
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156'--disable-timezone-tools'
157 By default, timezone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
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158 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
159 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
160 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
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161
162 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
163 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
164 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
165 for more details.
166
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167'--enable-stack-protector'
168'--enable-stack-protector=strong'
169'--enable-stack-protector=all'
170 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
171 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
172 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
173 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
174 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
175 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
176 protection.
177
2d6ab5df 178'--enable-bind-now'
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179 Disable lazy binding for installed shared objects and programs.
180 This provides additional security hardening because it enables full
181 RELRO and a read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of
182 slightly increased program load times.
2d6ab5df 183
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184'--enable-pt_chown'
185 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
186 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
187 up pseudo-terminal ownership. It is not built by default because
188 systems using the Linux kernel are commonly built with the 'devpts'
189 filesystem enabled and mounted at '/dev/pts', which manages
190 pseudo-terminal ownership automatically. By using
191 '--enable-pt_chown', you may build 'pt_chown' and install it setuid
192 and owned by 'root'. The use of 'pt_chown' introduces additional
193 security risks to the system and you should enable it only if you
194 understand and accept those risks.
195
196'--disable-werror'
197 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
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198 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
199 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
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200 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
201 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
202
21933112 203'--disable-mathvec'
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204 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
205 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
21933112 206
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207'--enable-tunables'
208 Tunables support allows additional library parameters to be
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209 customized at runtime. This feature is enabled by default. This
210 option can take the following values:
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211
212 'yes'
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213 This is the default if no option is passed to configure. This
214 enables tunables and selects the default frontend (currently
215 'valstring').
216
217 'no'
218 This option disables tunables.
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219
220 'valstring'
221 This enables tunables and selects the 'valstring' frontend for
222 tunables. This frontend allows users to specify tunables as a
223 colon-separated list in a single environment variable
224 'GLIBC_TUNABLES'.
67e58f39 225
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226'--enable-obsolete-nsl'
227 By default, libnsl is only built as shared library for backward
228 compatibility and the NSS modules libnss_compat, libnss_nis and
229 libnss_nisplus are not built at all. Use this option to enable
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230 libnsl with all depending NSS modules and header files. For
231 architectures and ABIs that have been added after version 2.28 of
232 the GNU C Library this option is not available, and the libnsl
233 compatibility library is not built.
a640393a 234
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235'--disable-crypt'
236 Do not install the passphrase-hashing library 'libcrypt' or the
237 header file 'crypt.h'. 'unistd.h' will still declare the function
238 'crypt'. Using this option does not change the set of programs
239 that may need to be linked with '-lcrypt'; it only means that the
240 GNU C Library will not provide that library.
241
242 This option is for hackers and distributions experimenting with
243 independently-maintained implementations of libcrypt. It may
244 become the default in a future release.
245
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246'--disable-experimental-malloc'
247 By default, a per-thread cache is enabled in 'malloc'. While this
248 cache can be disabled on a per-application basis using tunables
249 (set glibc.malloc.tcache_count to zero), this option can be used to
250 remove it from the build completely.
251
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252'--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
253'--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
254 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
255 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
256 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
257 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
258 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
259 the compiler and/or binutils.
260
261 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
262 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
263 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
264 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
265 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
266 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
267 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
db9881ec 268 'CC'.
1792d4db 269
a8db092e 270 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
41aa20c2 271
a8db092e 272'--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
8b748aed 273 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
a8db092e 274 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
8b748aed 275 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
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276 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
277 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
8b748aed 278
a8db092e 279'--with-bugurl=URL'
8b748aed 280 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
a8db092e 281 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
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282 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
283 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
284
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285 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
286produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
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287but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
288Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
41aa20c2 289
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290 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
291configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
292take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
293machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
00c1176b 294
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295 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
296an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
297'make' version, though.
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298
299 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
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300facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
301not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
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302problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
303on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
a8db092e 304being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
1f77f049 305Library as an unprivileged user.
41aa20c2 306
8d4b5a8a 307 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
6736e93b 308The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
a8db092e 309system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
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310files must all contain correct and sensible content.
311
a8db092e 312 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
d6fe5e58 313problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
a8db092e 314You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
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315make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
316failure occurs.
317
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318 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
319'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
320distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
321files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
322'make info'.
1792d4db 323
c0389ee4 324 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
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325which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
326file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
327build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
328is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
329makefiles.
c0389ee4 330
1f77f049 331 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
a8db092e 332setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
c0389ee4 333cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
a8db092e 334important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
db9881ec 335this: 'configure TARGET CC=TARGET-gcc'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
6736e93b 336to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
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337library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
338if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
339target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
340may be tested using 'make check
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341test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
342is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
343HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
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344binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
345visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
c0389ee4 346
a8db092e 347 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
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348to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
349This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
8540f6d2 350working directory and the standard input, output and error file
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351descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
352environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
8540f6d2 353program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
a8db092e 354assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
8540f6d2 355before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
a8db092e 356the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
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357precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
358program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
359directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
360the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
361semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
362rather than the ambient set.
0eb69512 363
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364Installing the C Library
365========================
41aa20c2 366
80ed68b7 367To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
a8db092e 368manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
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369before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
370first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
371library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
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372first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
373when the library changes out from underneath.
1792d4db 374
a8db092e 375 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
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376installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
377headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
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378generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
379do things in the following order.
c0389ee4 380
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381 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
382check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
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383install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
384directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
385files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
386library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
a8db092e 387library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
02c4bbad 388directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
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389headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
390headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
1f77f049 391installing the library.
c0389ee4 392
1f77f049 393 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
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394configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
395on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
1f77f049 396prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
a8db092e 397setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
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398directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
399with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
400not supported.
1792d4db 401
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402 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
403may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
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404dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
405well.
1792d4db 406
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407 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
408'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
409program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
410a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
411using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
412'/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
41aa20c2 413
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414 After installation you should configure the timezone and install
415locales for your system. The time zone configuration ensures that your
416system time matches the time for your current timezone. The locales
417ensure that the display of information on your system matches the
418expectations of your language and geographic region.
419
420 The GNU C Library is able to use two kinds of localization
421information sources, the first is a locale database named
422'locale-archive' which is generally installed as
423'/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive'. The locale archive has the benefit of
424taking up less space and being very fast to load, but only if you plan
425to install sixty or more locales. If you plan to install one or two
426locales you can instead install individual locales into their self-named
427directories e.g. '/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8'. For example to install
428the German locale using the character set for UTF-8 with name 'de_DE'
429into the locale archive issue the command 'localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8
430de_DE', and to install just the one locale issue the command 'localedef
431--no-archive -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
a8db092e 432are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
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433directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales' to install all
434locales into the locale archive or 'make
435localedata/install-locale-files' to install all locales as files in the
436default configured locale installation directory (derived from
437'--prefix' or '--localedir'). To install into an alternative system
438root use 'DESTDIR' e.g. 'make localedata/install-locale-files
439DESTDIR=/opt/glibc', but note that this does not change the configured
440prefix.
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441
442 To configure the locally used timezone, set the 'TZ' environment
443variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
444As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
445'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
446are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
447which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
448Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
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449/etc/localtime'.
450
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451Recommended Tools for Compilation
452=================================
41aa20c2 453
80ed68b7 454We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
1f77f049 455build the GNU C Library:
41aa20c2 456
f2873d2d 457 * GNU 'make' 4.0 or newer
41aa20c2 458
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459 As of relase time, GNU 'make' 4.2.1 is the newest verified to work
460 to build the GNU C Library.
461
4dcbbc3b 462 * GCC 6.2 or newer
0e7727f7 463
4dcbbc3b 464 GCC 6.2 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
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465 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
466 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
e7124906 467 better code. As of release time, GCC 9.1.1 is the newest compiler
4863355a 468 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
91ea72b7 469
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470 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
471 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
472 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
473 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
474 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
475 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
476 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
477 'gcc/config.gcc'.
478
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479 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
480 the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 481
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482 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
483 platforms.
5713a71e 484
073e8fa7 485 * GNU 'binutils' 2.25 or later
41aa20c2 486
a8db092e 487 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
7a49a7d5 488 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
f650932b 489 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.31.1 is the newest
04cb913d 490 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 491
a8db092e 492 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
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493
494 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
a8db092e 495 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
41aa20c2 496 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
1792d4db 497 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
e7124906 498 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 6.6 is the newest
04cb913d 499 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 500
a8db092e 501 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
00c1176b 502
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503 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
504 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
2c8f75f7 505 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
f650932b 506 version 4.2.1 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
2c8f75f7 507 Library.
41aa20c2 508
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509 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
510
511 'bison' is used to generate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
330c9d0d 512 subdirectory. As of release time, 'bison' version 3.0.5 is the
93493119 513 newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
1faaf703 514
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515 * Perl 5
516
3c1622eb 517 Perl is not required, but if present it is used in some tests and
053c52b1 518 the 'mtrace' program, to build the GNU C Library manual. As of
e7124906 519 release time 'perl' version 5.28.2 is the newest verified to work
053c52b1 520 to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 521
a8db092e 522 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
c0389ee4 523
a8db092e 524 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
2c8f75f7 525 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
f650932b 526 4.5 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
c0389ee4 527
c6982f7e 528 * Python 3.4 or later
3c1622eb 529
c6982f7e 530 Python is required to build the GNU C Library. As of release time,
e7124906 531 Python 3.7.4 is the newest verified to work for building and
330c9d0d 532 testing the GNU C Library.
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533
534 * PExpect 4.0
535
536 The pretty printer tests drive GDB through test programs and
537 compare its output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture
538 the output of GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version
539 in your system. As of release time PExpect 4.3 is the newest
540 verified to work to test the pretty printers.
541
542 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7/3.4 or later
543
544 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
545 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
546 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
547 system's Python and GDB's have the same version. As of release
e7124906 548 time GNU 'debugger' 8.3 is the newest verified to work to test the
330c9d0d 549 pretty printers.
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550
551 Unless Python, PExpect and GDB with Python support are present, the
552 printer tests will report themselves as 'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that
553 some of the printer tests require the GNU C Library to be compiled
554 with debugging symbols.
555
a8db092e 556If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
0cc70fcf 557
a8db092e 558 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.69 (exactly)
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559
560and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
561
a8db092e 562 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
41aa20c2 563
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564 As of release time, GNU 'gettext' version 0.19.8.1 is the newest
565 version verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
566
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567You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
568patches, although we try to avoid this.
569
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570Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
571=====================================
80ed68b7 572
a7a93d50 573If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
5b4ecd3f 574to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
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575reference. (For the ia64 architecture, you need version 3.2.18 or newer
576because this is the first version with support for the 'accept4' system
577call.) These headers must be installed using 'make headers_install';
578the headers present in the kernel source directory are not suitable for
579direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to use that kernel,
580just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library can access them,
581referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way to do this is to
582unpack it in a directory such as '/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that
583directory, run 'make headers_install
1f77f049 584INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
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585Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
586the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
1f77f049 587cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
a8db092e 588'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
1f77f049 589ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
a8db092e 590'x86' or 'powerpc'.)
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591
592 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
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593directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
594replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
595'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
596'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
597Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
598provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
599by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
600are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
601directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
602not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
603kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
604using '--with-headers'.
1f77f049 605
a7a93d50 606 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
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607components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
608'/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
609Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
610to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
1792d4db 611
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612Reporting Bugs
613==============
41aa20c2 614
1f77f049 615There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
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616errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
617fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
618remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
619
bd952512 620 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
a8db092e 621reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
8b748aed 622a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
a306c790 623system has a WWW interface at <https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
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624WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
625report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
6736e93b 626
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627 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
628the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
629good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
630some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
631libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
632is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
633Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
634twice.
1792d4db 635
1f77f049 636 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
1792d4db 637not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
c0389ee4 638Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
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639
640 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
641smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
642library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
643call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
644
645 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
5a82c748 646Do this at <https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
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647
648 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
649doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
650function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
651or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
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652errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
653database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
654include the section names for easier identification.