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Fix hppa local PLT entries for sigprocmask (bug 18124).
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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.
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38
39 It may also be useful to set the CC and CFLAGS variables in the
a8db092e 40environment when running 'configure'. CC selects the C compiler that
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41will be used, and CFLAGS sets optimization options for the compiler.
42
bd952512 43 The following list describes all of the available options for
a8db092e 44'configure':
00c1176b 45
a8db092e 46'--prefix=DIRECTORY'
00c1176b 47 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
a8db092e 48 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to install in '/usr/local'.
00c1176b 49
a8db092e 50'--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
00c1176b 51 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
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52 subdirectories of 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to the '--prefix'
53 directory if that option is specified, or '/usr/local' otherwise.
00c1176b 54
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55'--with-headers=DIRECTORY'
56 Look for kernel header files in DIRECTORY, not '/usr/include'. The
57 GNU C Library needs information from the kernel's header files
1f77f049 58 describing the interface to the kernel. The GNU C Library will
a8db092e 59 normally look in '/usr/include' for them, but if you specify this
1f77f049 60 option, it will look in DIRECTORY instead.
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61
62 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
a8db092e 63 '/usr/include' come from an older version of the GNU C Library.
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64 Conflicts can occasionally happen in this case. You can also use
65 this option if you want to compile the GNU C Library with a newer
a8db092e 66 set of kernel headers than the ones found in '/usr/include'.
41aa20c2 67
a8db092e 68'--enable-kernel=VERSION'
90d1d40b 69 This option is currently only useful on GNU/Linux systems. The
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70 VERSION parameter should have the form X.Y.Z and describes the
71 smallest version of the Linux kernel the generated library is
72 expected to support. The higher the VERSION number is, the less
73 compatibility code is added, and the faster the code gets.
74
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75'--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
76 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in 'DIRECTORY', not the
6736e93b 77 ones the C compiler would default to. You can use this option if
41aa20c2 78 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
a8db092e 79 constructs in the GNU C Library. In that case, 'configure' will
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80 detect the problem and suppress these constructs, so that the
81 library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
82 example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
41aa20c2 83
a8db092e 84'--disable-shared'
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85 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
86 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
87 (currently) the GNU linker.
41aa20c2 88
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89'--enable-static-pie'
90 Enable static position independent executable (static PIE) support.
91 Static PIE is similar to static executable, but can be loaded at
92 any address without help from a dynamic linker. All static
93 programs as well as static tests are built as static PIE, except
94 for those marked with no-pie. The resulting glibc can be used with
95 the GCC option, -static-pie, which is available with GCC 8 or
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96 above, to create static PIE. This option also implies that glibc
97 programs and tests are created as dynamic position independent
98 executables (PIE) by default.
9d7a3741 99
a8db092e 100'--disable-profile'
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101 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
102 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
41aa20c2 103
a8db092e 104'--enable-static-nss'
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105 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
106 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
107 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
108 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
109
a8db092e 110'--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
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111 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
112 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
113 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
114
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115'--disable-timezone-tools'
116 By default, timezone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
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117 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
118 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
119 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
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120
121 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
122 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
123 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
124 for more details.
125
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126'--enable-stack-protector'
127'--enable-stack-protector=strong'
128'--enable-stack-protector=all'
129 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
130 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
131 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
132 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
133 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
134 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
135 protection.
136
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137'--enable-bind-now'
138 Disable lazy binding for installed shared objects. This provides
139 additional security hardening because it enables full RELRO and a
140 read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of slightly
141 increased program load times.
142
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143'--enable-pt_chown'
144 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
145 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
146 up pseudo-terminal ownership. It is not built by default because
147 systems using the Linux kernel are commonly built with the 'devpts'
148 filesystem enabled and mounted at '/dev/pts', which manages
149 pseudo-terminal ownership automatically. By using
150 '--enable-pt_chown', you may build 'pt_chown' and install it setuid
151 and owned by 'root'. The use of 'pt_chown' introduces additional
152 security risks to the system and you should enable it only if you
153 understand and accept those risks.
154
155'--disable-werror'
156 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
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157 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
158 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
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159 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
160 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
161
21933112 162'--disable-mathvec'
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163 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
164 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
21933112 165
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166'--enable-tunables'
167 Tunables support allows additional library parameters to be
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168 customized at runtime. This feature is enabled by default. This
169 option can take the following values:
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170
171 'yes'
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172 This is the default if no option is passed to configure. This
173 enables tunables and selects the default frontend (currently
174 'valstring').
175
176 'no'
177 This option disables tunables.
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178
179 'valstring'
180 This enables tunables and selects the 'valstring' frontend for
181 tunables. This frontend allows users to specify tunables as a
182 colon-separated list in a single environment variable
183 'GLIBC_TUNABLES'.
67e58f39 184
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185'--enable-obsolete-nsl'
186 By default, libnsl is only built as shared library for backward
187 compatibility and the NSS modules libnss_compat, libnss_nis and
188 libnss_nisplus are not built at all. Use this option to enable
189 libnsl with all depending NSS modules and header files.
190
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191'--disable-experimental-malloc'
192 By default, a per-thread cache is enabled in 'malloc'. While this
193 cache can be disabled on a per-application basis using tunables
194 (set glibc.malloc.tcache_count to zero), this option can be used to
195 remove it from the build completely.
196
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197'--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
198'--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
199 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
200 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
201 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
202 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
203 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
204 the compiler and/or binutils.
205
206 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
207 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
208 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
209 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
210 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
211 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
212 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
ad1b5f19 213 CFLAGS.
1792d4db 214
a8db092e 215 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
41aa20c2 216
a8db092e 217'--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
8b748aed 218 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
a8db092e 219 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
8b748aed 220 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
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221 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
222 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
8b748aed 223
a8db092e 224'--with-bugurl=URL'
8b748aed 225 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
a8db092e 226 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
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227 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
228 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
229
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230 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
231produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
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232but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
233Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
41aa20c2 234
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235 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
236configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
237take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
238machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
00c1176b 239
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240 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
241an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
242'make' version, though.
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243
244 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
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245facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
246not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
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247problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
248on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
a8db092e 249being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
1f77f049 250Library as an unprivileged user.
41aa20c2 251
8d4b5a8a 252 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
6736e93b 253The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
a8db092e 254system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
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255files must all contain correct and sensible content.
256
a8db092e 257 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
d6fe5e58 258problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
a8db092e 259You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
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260make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
261failure occurs.
262
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263 The GNU C Library pretty printers come with their own set of scripts
264for testing, which run together with the rest of the testsuite through
265'make check'. These scripts require the following tools to run
266successfully:
267
268 * Python 2.7.6/3.4.3 or later
269
270 Python is required for running the printers' test scripts.
271
272 * PExpect 4.0
273
274 The printer tests drive GDB through test programs and compare its
275 output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture the output of
276 GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version in your
277 system.
278
279 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7.6/3.4.3 or later
280
281 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
282 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
283 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
284 system's Python and GDB's have the same version.
285
286If these tools are absent, the printer tests will report themselves as
287'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that some of the printer tests require the GNU C
288Library to be compiled with debugging symbols.
289
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290 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
291'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
292distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
293files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
294'make info'.
1792d4db 295
c0389ee4 296 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
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297which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
298file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
299build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
300is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
301makefiles.
c0389ee4 302
1f77f049 303 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
a8db092e 304setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
c0389ee4 305cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
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306important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
307this: 'CC=TARGET-gcc configure TARGET'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
6736e93b 308to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
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309library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
310if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
311target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
312may be tested using 'make check
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313test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
314is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
315HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
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316binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
317visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
c0389ee4 318
a8db092e 319 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
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320to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
321This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
8540f6d2 322working directory and the standard input, output and error file
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323descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
324environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
8540f6d2 325program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
a8db092e 326assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
8540f6d2 327before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
a8db092e 328the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
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329precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
330program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
331directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
332the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
333semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
334rather than the ambient set.
0eb69512 335
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336Installing the C Library
337========================
41aa20c2 338
80ed68b7 339To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
a8db092e 340manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
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341before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
342first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
343library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
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344first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
345when the library changes out from underneath.
1792d4db 346
a8db092e 347 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
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348installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
349headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
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350generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
351do things in the following order.
c0389ee4 352
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353 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
354check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
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355install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
356directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
357files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
358library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
a8db092e 359library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
02c4bbad 360directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
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361headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
362headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
1f77f049 363installing the library.
c0389ee4 364
1f77f049 365 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
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366configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
367on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
1f77f049 368prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
a8db092e 369setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
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370directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
371with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
372not supported.
1792d4db 373
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374 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
375may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
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376dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
377well.
1792d4db 378
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379 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
380'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
381program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
382a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
383using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
384'/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
41aa20c2 385
bd952512 386 After installation you might want to configure the timezone and
1f77f049 387locale installation of your system. The GNU C Library comes with a
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388locale database which gets configured with 'localedef'. For example, to
389set up a German locale with name 'de_DE', simply issue the command
390'localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
391are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
392directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales'.
393
394 To configure the locally used timezone, set the 'TZ' environment
395variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
396As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
397'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
398are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
399which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
400Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
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401/etc/localtime'.
402
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403Recommended Tools for Compilation
404=================================
41aa20c2 405
80ed68b7 406We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
1f77f049 407build the GNU C Library:
41aa20c2 408
a8db092e 409 * GNU 'make' 3.79 or newer
41aa20c2 410
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411 You need the latest version of GNU 'make'. Modifying the GNU C
412 Library to work with other 'make' programs would be so difficult
413 that we recommend you port GNU 'make' instead. *Really.* We
414 recommend GNU 'make' version 3.79. All earlier versions have
6736e93b 415 severe bugs or lack features.
41aa20c2 416
4add8674 417 * GCC 4.9 or newer
0e7727f7 418
4add8674 419 GCC 4.9 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
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420 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
421 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
d9f442ce 422 better code. As of release time, GCC 7.3 is the newest compiler
4863355a 423 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
91ea72b7 424
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425 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), GCC 6.2 or higher
426 is required. This compiler version is the first to provide the
427 features required for building the GNU C Library with support for
428 '_Float128'.
429
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430 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
431 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
432 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
433 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
434 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
435 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
436 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
437 'gcc/config.gcc'.
438
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439 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
440 the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 441
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442 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
443 platforms.
5713a71e 444
073e8fa7 445 * GNU 'binutils' 2.25 or later
41aa20c2 446
a8db092e 447 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
7a49a7d5 448 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
93493119 449 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.29.1 is the newest
04cb913d 450 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 451
a8db092e 452 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
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453
454 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
a8db092e 455 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
41aa20c2 456 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
1792d4db 457 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
93493119 458 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 6.5 is the newest
04cb913d 459 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 460
a8db092e 461 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
00c1176b 462
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463 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
464 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
2c8f75f7 465 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
93493119 466 version 4.2.0 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
2c8f75f7 467 Library.
41aa20c2 468
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469 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
470
471 'bison' is used to generate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
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472 subdirectory. As of release time, 'bison' version 3.0.4 is the
473 newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
1faaf703 474
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475 * Perl 5
476
477 Perl is not required, but it is used if present to test the
478 installation. We may decide to use it elsewhere in the future.
41aa20c2 479
a8db092e 480 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
c0389ee4 481
a8db092e 482 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
2c8f75f7 483 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
93493119 484 4.4 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
c0389ee4 485
a8db092e 486If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
0cc70fcf 487
a8db092e 488 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.69 (exactly)
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489
490and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
491
a8db092e 492 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
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493
494You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
495patches, although we try to avoid this.
496
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497Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
498=====================================
80ed68b7 499
a7a93d50 500If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
5b4ecd3f 501to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
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502reference. (For the ia64 architecture, you need version 3.2.18 or newer
503because this is the first version with support for the 'accept4' system
504call.) These headers must be installed using 'make headers_install';
505the headers present in the kernel source directory are not suitable for
506direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to use that kernel,
507just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library can access them,
508referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way to do this is to
509unpack it in a directory such as '/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that
510directory, run 'make headers_install
1f77f049 511INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
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512Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
513the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
1f77f049 514cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
a8db092e 515'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
1f77f049 516ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
a8db092e 517'x86' or 'powerpc'.)
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518
519 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
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520directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
521replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
522'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
523'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
524Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
525provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
526by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
527are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
528directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
529not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
530kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
531using '--with-headers'.
1f77f049 532
a7a93d50 533 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
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534components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
535'/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
536Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
537to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
1792d4db 538
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539Reporting Bugs
540==============
41aa20c2 541
1f77f049 542There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
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543errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
544fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
545remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
546
bd952512 547 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
a8db092e 548reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
8b748aed 549a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
a306c790 550system has a WWW interface at <https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
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551WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
552report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
6736e93b 553
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554 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
555the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
556good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
557some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
558libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
559is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
560Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
561twice.
1792d4db 562
1f77f049 563 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
1792d4db 564not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
c0389ee4 565Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
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566
567 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
568smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
569library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
570call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
571
572 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
a8db092e 573Do this at <http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
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574
575 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
576doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
577function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
578or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
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579errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
580database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
581include the section names for easier identification.