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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
e6c69509 125'--enable-cet'
9e38f455 126'--enable-cet=permissive'
e6c69509 127 Enable Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) support.
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128 When the GNU C Library is built with '--enable-cet' or
129 '--enable-cet=permissive', the resulting library is protected with
130 indirect branch tracking (IBT) and shadow stack (SHSTK). When CET
131 is enabled, the GNU C Library is compatible with all existing
132 executables and shared libraries. This feature is currently
133 supported on i386, x86_64 and x32 with GCC 8 and binutils 2.29 or
134 later. Note that when CET is enabled, the GNU C Library requires
135 CPUs capable of multi-byte NOPs, like x86-64 processors as well as
136 Intel Pentium Pro or newer. With '--enable-cet', it is an error to
137 dlopen a non CET enabled shared library in CET enabled application.
138 With '--enable-cet=permissive', CET is disabled when dlopening a
139 non CET enabled shared library in CET enabled application.
e6c69509 140
e84bd851 141 NOTE: '--enable-cet' has been tested for i686, x86_64 and x32 on
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142 non-CET processors. '--enable-cet' has been tested for i686,
143 x86_64 and x32 on CET processors.
e84bd851 144
a8db092e 145'--disable-profile'
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146 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
147 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
41aa20c2 148
a8db092e 149'--enable-static-nss'
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150 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
151 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
152 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
153 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
154
a8db092e 155'--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
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156 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
157 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
158 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
159
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160'--disable-timezone-tools'
161 By default, timezone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
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162 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
163 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
164 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
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165
166 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
167 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
168 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
169 for more details.
170
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171'--enable-stack-protector'
172'--enable-stack-protector=strong'
173'--enable-stack-protector=all'
174 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
175 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
176 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
177 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
178 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
179 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
180 protection.
181
2d6ab5df 182'--enable-bind-now'
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183 Disable lazy binding for installed shared objects and programs.
184 This provides additional security hardening because it enables full
185 RELRO and a read-only global offset table (GOT), at the cost of
186 slightly increased program load times.
2d6ab5df 187
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188'--enable-pt_chown'
189 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
190 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
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191 up pseudo-terminal ownership on GNU/Hurd. It is not required on
192 GNU/Linux, and the GNU C Library will not use the installed
193 'pt_chown' program when configured with '--enable-pt_chown'.
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194
195'--disable-werror'
196 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
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197 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
198 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
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199 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
200 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
201
21933112 202'--disable-mathvec'
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203 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
204 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
21933112 205
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206'--enable-tunables'
207 Tunables support allows additional library parameters to be
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208 customized at runtime. This feature is enabled by default. This
209 option can take the following values:
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210
211 'yes'
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212 This is the default if no option is passed to configure. This
213 enables tunables and selects the default frontend (currently
214 'valstring').
215
216 'no'
217 This option disables tunables.
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218
219 'valstring'
220 This enables tunables and selects the 'valstring' frontend for
221 tunables. This frontend allows users to specify tunables as a
222 colon-separated list in a single environment variable
223 'GLIBC_TUNABLES'.
67e58f39 224
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225'--disable-crypt'
226 Do not install the passphrase-hashing library 'libcrypt' or the
227 header file 'crypt.h'. 'unistd.h' will still declare the function
228 'crypt'. Using this option does not change the set of programs
229 that may need to be linked with '-lcrypt'; it only means that the
230 GNU C Library will not provide that library.
231
232 This option is for hackers and distributions experimenting with
233 independently-maintained implementations of libcrypt. It may
234 become the default in a future release.
235
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236'--disable-experimental-malloc'
237 By default, a per-thread cache is enabled in 'malloc'. While this
238 cache can be disabled on a per-application basis using tunables
239 (set glibc.malloc.tcache_count to zero), this option can be used to
240 remove it from the build completely.
241
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242'--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
243'--host=HOST-SYSTEM'
244 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
245 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
246 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
247 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
248 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
249 the compiler and/or binutils.
250
251 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
252 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
253 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
254 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
255 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
256 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
257 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
db9881ec 258 'CC'.
1792d4db 259
a8db092e 260 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
41aa20c2 261
a8db092e 262'--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
8b748aed 263 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
a8db092e 264 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
8b748aed 265 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
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266 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
267 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
8b748aed 268
a8db092e 269'--with-bugurl=URL'
8b748aed 270 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
a8db092e 271 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
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272 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
273 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
274
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275 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
276produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
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277but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
278Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
41aa20c2 279
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280 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
281configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
282take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
283machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
00c1176b 284
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285 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
286an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
287'make' version, though.
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288
289 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
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290facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
291not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
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292problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
293on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
a8db092e 294being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
1f77f049 295Library as an unprivileged user.
41aa20c2 296
8d4b5a8a 297 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
6736e93b 298The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
a8db092e 299system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
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300files must all contain correct and sensible content.
301
a8db092e 302 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
d6fe5e58 303problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
a8db092e 304You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
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305make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
306failure occurs.
307
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308 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
309'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
310distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
311files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
312'make info'.
1792d4db 313
c0389ee4 314 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
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315which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
316file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
317build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
318is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
319makefiles.
c0389ee4 320
1f77f049 321 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
a8db092e 322setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
c0389ee4 323cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
a8db092e 324important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
db9881ec 325this: 'configure TARGET CC=TARGET-gcc'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
6736e93b 326to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
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327library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
328if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
329target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
330may be tested using 'make check
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331test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
332is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
333HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
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334binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
335visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
c0389ee4 336
a8db092e 337 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
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338to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
339This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
8540f6d2 340working directory and the standard input, output and error file
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341descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
342environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
8540f6d2 343program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
a8db092e 344assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
8540f6d2 345before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
a8db092e 346the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
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347precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
348program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
349directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
350the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
351semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
352rather than the ambient set.
0eb69512 353
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354Installing the C Library
355========================
41aa20c2 356
80ed68b7 357To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
a8db092e 358manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
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359before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
360first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
361library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
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362first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
363when the library changes out from underneath.
1792d4db 364
a8db092e 365 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
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366installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
367headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
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368generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
369do things in the following order.
c0389ee4 370
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371 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
372check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
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373install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
374directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
375files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
376library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
a8db092e 377library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
02c4bbad 378directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
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379headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
380headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
1f77f049 381installing the library.
c0389ee4 382
1f77f049 383 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
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384configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
385on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
1f77f049 386prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
a8db092e 387setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
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388directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
389with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
390not supported.
1792d4db 391
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392 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
393may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
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394dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
395well.
1792d4db 396
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397 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
398'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
399program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
400a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
401using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
402'/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
41aa20c2 403
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404 After installation you should configure the timezone and install
405locales for your system. The time zone configuration ensures that your
406system time matches the time for your current timezone. The locales
407ensure that the display of information on your system matches the
408expectations of your language and geographic region.
409
410 The GNU C Library is able to use two kinds of localization
411information sources, the first is a locale database named
412'locale-archive' which is generally installed as
413'/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive'. The locale archive has the benefit of
414taking up less space and being very fast to load, but only if you plan
415to install sixty or more locales. If you plan to install one or two
416locales you can instead install individual locales into their self-named
417directories e.g. '/usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8'. For example to install
418the German locale using the character set for UTF-8 with name 'de_DE'
419into the locale archive issue the command 'localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8
420de_DE', and to install just the one locale issue the command 'localedef
421--no-archive -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
a8db092e 422are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
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423directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales' to install all
424locales into the locale archive or 'make
425localedata/install-locale-files' to install all locales as files in the
426default configured locale installation directory (derived from
427'--prefix' or '--localedir'). To install into an alternative system
428root use 'DESTDIR' e.g. 'make localedata/install-locale-files
429DESTDIR=/opt/glibc', but note that this does not change the configured
430prefix.
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431
432 To configure the locally used timezone, set the 'TZ' environment
433variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
434As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
435'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
436are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
437which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
438Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
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439/etc/localtime'.
440
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441Recommended Tools for Compilation
442=================================
41aa20c2 443
80ed68b7 444We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
1f77f049 445build the GNU C Library:
41aa20c2 446
f2873d2d 447 * GNU 'make' 4.0 or newer
41aa20c2 448
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449 As of relase time, GNU 'make' 4.2.1 is the newest verified to work
450 to build the GNU C Library.
451
4dcbbc3b 452 * GCC 6.2 or newer
0e7727f7 453
4dcbbc3b 454 GCC 6.2 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
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455 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
456 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
df5919df 457 better code. As of release time, GCC 9.2.1 is the newest compiler
4863355a 458 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
91ea72b7 459
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460 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), a GCC version with
461 support for '-mno-gnu-attribute', '-mabi=ieeelongdouble', and
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462 '-mabi=ibmlondouble' is required. Likewise, the compiler must also
463 support passing '-mlong-double-128' with the preceding options. As
464 of release, this implies GCC 7.4 and newer (excepting GCC 7.5.0,
465 see GCC PR94200). These additional features are required for
466 building the GNU C Library with support for IEEE long double.
50545f5a 467
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468 For ARC architecture builds, GCC 8.3 or higher is needed.
469
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470 For s390x architecture builds, GCC 7.1 or higher is needed (See gcc
471 Bug 98269).
472
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473 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
474 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
475 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
476 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
477 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
478 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
479 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
480 'gcc/config.gcc'.
481
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482 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
483 the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 484
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485 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
486 platforms.
5713a71e 487
073e8fa7 488 * GNU 'binutils' 2.25 or later
41aa20c2 489
a8db092e 490 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
7a49a7d5 491 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
df5919df 492 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.32 is the newest
04cb913d 493 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 494
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495 For PowerPC 64-bits little-endian (powerpc64le), 'objcopy' is
496 required to support '--update-section'. This option requires
497 binutils 2.26 or newer.
498
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499 ARC architecture needs 'binutils' 2.32 or higher for TLS related
500 fixes.
501
a8db092e 502 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
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503
504 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
a8db092e 505 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
41aa20c2 506 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
1792d4db 507 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
e7124906 508 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 6.6 is the newest
04cb913d 509 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 510
a8db092e 511 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
00c1176b 512
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513 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
514 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
2c8f75f7 515 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
df5919df 516 version 5.0.1 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
2c8f75f7 517 Library.
41aa20c2 518
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519 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
520
521 'bison' is used to generate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
df5919df 522 subdirectory. As of release time, 'bison' version 3.4.1 is the
93493119 523 newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
1faaf703 524
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525 * Perl 5
526
3c1622eb 527 Perl is not required, but if present it is used in some tests and
053c52b1 528 the 'mtrace' program, to build the GNU C Library manual. As of
df5919df 529 release time 'perl' version 5.30.1 is the newest verified to work
053c52b1 530 to build the GNU C Library.
41aa20c2 531
a8db092e 532 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
c0389ee4 533
a8db092e 534 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
2c8f75f7 535 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
f650932b 536 4.5 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
c0389ee4 537
c6982f7e 538 * Python 3.4 or later
3c1622eb 539
c6982f7e 540 Python is required to build the GNU C Library. As of release time,
e7124906 541 Python 3.7.4 is the newest verified to work for building and
330c9d0d 542 testing the GNU C Library.
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543
544 * PExpect 4.0
545
546 The pretty printer tests drive GDB through test programs and
547 compare its output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture
548 the output of GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version
549 in your system. As of release time PExpect 4.3 is the newest
550 verified to work to test the pretty printers.
551
552 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7/3.4 or later
553
554 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
555 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
556 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
557 system's Python and GDB's have the same version. As of release
e7124906 558 time GNU 'debugger' 8.3 is the newest verified to work to test the
330c9d0d 559 pretty printers.
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560
561 Unless Python, PExpect and GDB with Python support are present, the
562 printer tests will report themselves as 'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that
563 some of the printer tests require the GNU C Library to be compiled
564 with debugging symbols.
565
a8db092e 566If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
0cc70fcf 567
a8db092e 568 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.69 (exactly)
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570and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
571
a8db092e 572 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
41aa20c2 573
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574 As of release time, GNU 'gettext' version 0.19.8.1 is the newest
575 version verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
576
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577You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
578patches, although we try to avoid this.
579
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580Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
581=====================================
80ed68b7 582
a7a93d50 583If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
5b4ecd3f 584to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
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585reference. (For the ia64 architecture, you need version 3.2.18 or newer
586because this is the first version with support for the 'accept4' system
587call.) These headers must be installed using 'make headers_install';
588the headers present in the kernel source directory are not suitable for
589direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to use that kernel,
590just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library can access them,
591referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way to do this is to
592unpack it in a directory such as '/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that
593directory, run 'make headers_install
1f77f049 594INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
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595Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
596the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
1f77f049 597cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
a8db092e 598'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
1f77f049 599ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
a8db092e 600'x86' or 'powerpc'.)
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601
602 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
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603directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
604replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
605'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
606'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
607Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
608provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
609by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
610are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
611directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
612not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
613kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
614using '--with-headers'.
1f77f049 615
a7a93d50 616 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
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617components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
618'/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
619Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
620to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
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622Reporting Bugs
623==============
41aa20c2 624
1f77f049 625There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
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626errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
627fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
628remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
629
bd952512 630 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
a8db092e 631reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
8b748aed 632a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
a306c790 633system has a WWW interface at <https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
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634WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
635report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
6736e93b 636
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637 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
638the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
639good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
640some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
641libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
642is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
643Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
644twice.
1792d4db 645
1f77f049 646 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
1792d4db 647not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
c0389ee4 648Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
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649
650 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
651smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
652library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
653call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
654
655 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
5a82c748 656Do this at <https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
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657
658 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
659doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
660function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
661or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
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662errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
663database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
664include the section names for easier identification.